Horizon
by Jetede
Summary: Svrl yrs after Orochimaru died, a mission went wrong, Akatsuki on the loose, while Naruto's missing. 4 strangers appeared out of a mysterious vortex in the middle of Konoha lake. The gate between the 2 worlds is opened once more...[ItaNaru][KKMaou xover]
1. Prlg: In the Stillness of the Night

**Horizon**

A Naruto & KKMaou fanfic by Jetede

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_horizon_

_1. the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky.  
2. the great circle on the celestial sphere whose plane passes through the sensible horizon and the center of the Earth.  
3. astronomy: the small circle of the celestial sphere whose plane is tangent to the earth at the position of a given observer, or the plane of such a circle __**sensible horizon**__. Also called __**rational horizon: **__the great circle of the celestial sphere whose plane passes through the center of the earth and is parallel to the sensible horizon of a given position, or the plane of such a circle __(**celestial horizon**)._

_(taken from dictionary. com)_

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**Prologue: In the Stillness of the Night**

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It was a quiet night. 

Grasses rustled as it swayed in the soft wind, crickets and other insects chirped as they enjoyed the cool air of _Hi no Kuni_'s autumn season. The huge silver full moon was hanging low in the sky, its reflection shown in the middle of the lake by the old _Uchiha _district.

Silence reigned in the stillness of the night.

It had always been like that for years around the dead Uchiha district now. What used to be a lively neighborhood full of the proud _Sharingan-_weilding clan members was now dead to the world, frozen in time. No one dared to venture into the streets of the god-forsaken district anymore – not since the massacre, and not since the last two living Uchiha brothers betrayed _Konoha _one after the other.

A pair of _jounin _patrols shuddered from a sudden mysterious chill in the air as they jumped on the rooftops by the entrance of the Uchiha district. It wasn't supposed to be that cold yet in the season. They were, after all, living in the Fire Country.

"Damn it, this place always gives me the creeps whenever I pass by it ever since that massacre," one of the jounins said.

"Aa… tell me about it," replied the other one. "It got even creepier ever since that traitor of a kid defected to _Oto._"

"Uchiha Sasuke, huh? I heard he killed the snake _sannin, _Orochimaru three years ago," the first patrol said again. "Rumors said that he's gathered a few underlings for himself and that he's still chasing after the elder Uchiha's shadow up 'til now. Some of our _Oinins _encountered the younger Uchiha's traveling group several times in the past year."

"What happened to the _weasel, _anyway?"

"Saa… who knows. He disappeared after that incident about a few months after the younger Uchiha killed the _Otokage_," he said. "I accidentally heard about it while working administration at the Hokage Tower. I was only a _chuunin _back then.

"There was a big fuss at the _Hokage's _office. Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama, and the _Konoha Elite_ teams with their jounin instructors while they were in their _genin _years were all there, arguing over something concerning the _jinchuuriki_ and the _Akatsuki. _Even the _Kazekage _and his siblings were there. I've never seen Hokage-sama so upset over something before."

"That was the time the demon brat went missing, wasn't it?" The second patrol stated, rather than asked. "Cheh, it's a good thing that demon isn't here anymore. He's better off dead, anyway. That way, we can rest peacefully, knowing that the Kyuubi is dead, permanently this time."

"Oi, oi… You shouldn't talk like that out in the open like this." The first one panicked while jumping on the roofs next to his partner. "If any one of the Konoha Elite heard about you badmouthing the brat like that, you would be in huge trouble."

"Psh! I don't care! I'm just stating the truth. Don't tell me you've never even thought once in your life that the demon was better off dead," he spat to the ground.

"Well… I…"

"The Kyuubi brat has been listed as an S-class _nuke-nin_ for a couple years now. His name is on the bingo book. He's a threat, I tell you."

"But…"

"What are you so afraid of, anyway? It's not like anyone else is ar…" A _tori-_masked ANBU suddenly dropped in front of them, before the second jounin patrol could finish his sentence, stopping the two jounins mid-jump. In a fraction of a second, the ANBU disappeared and suddenly the two jounins felt the pressure of the tip of a kunai on their throats.

"What was this I heard about **demons **from your mouths?" The cold voice of the ANBU asked.

"No…nothing, ANBU-san," answered the second jounin. He could feel the strong killer intent from the ANBU behind him, suffocating his senses. He felt like pissing in his pants from the intensity of the aura. The first jounin could only gulp down his nervousness, not daring to make any reply to the clearly pissed-off ANBU officer behind him.

"Uzumaki-san is a friend of mine, while the _Godaime_-sama regards him as her adopted younger brother." The ANBU put more pressure on the kunais he held in each of his hands on the jounins' necks, drawing a trickle of blood each. "**No one**, and I mean, **no one**, is allowed to talk that way about him. According to Sandaime's law, I have the right to kill you on the spot for that."

Both jounins were by now frozen in fear for their lives.

The cold tone continued, "This is your last warning. Morino Ibiki-san's torture would feel like heaven compared to the things I'll do to you if I heard you talk about Uzumaki-san that way ever again."

The two jounin patrols shivered and could only nod to the threat. Before they even knew it, the Tori ANBU was already gone from the vicinity of the Uchiha district roofs. A second later, they slumped down on their knees after the effects of the suffocating killer intent left them. The only proof the Tori ANBU was there a moment ago was the small trickle of blood on each of their necks.

"Shit."

"Damn it. That was scary. I warned you, didn't I?! It felt like I really was gonna die."

"Let's just get the hell out of here and complete our rounds." Both of the jounin patrols left right after.

In the background, several hundred meters from the spot where the two patrols met the ANBU earlier, the water in center of the lake rippled and moved in a circular fashion, slowly growing into a water vortex.

The wind had already stopped for a few minutes before then.

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A/N: Yes, yes, I do realize that this is a new fic. For those of you readers who are currently following my KKMaou fics **The Demon King**, **Vampire Stories**, and **Ruby**, no fret… I've promised you that I would update them real soon, and I will. There's no way I'll abandon those other stories. It's just that, this idea has been floating in my mind for months now. I just had to write this one. It's a very short prologue. I was going to write some more, but I had to end this chapter there in order for this story to work the best. 

As you can probably tell, **Horizon** is a crossover between Naruto and Kyou Kara Maou. How they'll fit into each other? Well, I won't tell you how just yet, but if you keep following this story and write me those reviews, you'll be able to find out real soon! So, why don't you press on that review button down below:D I'd like to know if this story is good enough to continue. Thanks for reading! Ja!

-Insert the song **Shooting Star** (Nagare Boshi) by HOME MADE here closing theme from Naruto Shippuuden anime-


	2. Ch 1: Suns of the Worlds

**Horizon**

A Naruto & KKMaou fanfic by Jetede.

Standard disclaimer apply… We all know I don't own Naruto or Kyou Kara Maou.

Warning: A lot of spoilers to both series in this fic: up to the last chapters of Naruto manga, and up to the final episode to Kyou Kara Maou anime.

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_horizon_

_1. the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky.  
2. the great circle on the celestial sphere whose plane passes through the sensible horizon and the center of the Earth.  
3. astronomy: the small circle of the celestial sphere whose plane is tangent to the earth at the position of a given observer, or the plane of such a circle __**sensible horizon**__. Also called __**rational horizon. **__The great circle of the celestial sphere whose plane passes through the center of the earth and is parallel to the sensible horizon of a given position, or the plane of such a circle __(**celestial horizon**)._

_(taken from dictionary. com)_

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**Chapter 1: Suns of the Worlds**

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_In the background, several hundred meters from the spot where the two patrols met the ANBU earlier, the water in center of the lake rippled and moved in a circular fashion, slowly growing into a water vortex._

_The wind had already stopped for a few minutes before then._

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Hyuuga Neji was pissed off. He had just finished his solo suicide assassination mission and was on his way back to report the mission success to the hokage when he heard two jounin patrols talking about Naruto like he's some sort of a lower-than-trash, evil demon traitor, out in the open. 

He had spent the last two weeks tracking down his targets who kept eluding him, encountered a bunch of enemy nins after he finished the mission, almost got killed in the end, and he spent the last few days traveling back to Konoha, while trying to avoid other enemy nins, almost non-stop, without any sleep. Obviously, he was dead tired, definitely pissed off to the core, and was on a short fuse.

A Hyuuga is not supposed to have short fuse. A Hyuuga is supposed to maintain his or her stoic self in any kinds of condition. However, when you're a Hyuuga, and you heard someone talking bad about one of your closest friends and that friend was also someone you highly respect, who might also become the Hokage and your boss in the future, you'd probably also snap like Neji did.

Which was the reason why the tori-masked ANBU threatened the two jounin patrols on his way back to the Hokage tower earlier that night.

Slightly contented from scaring the shit out of the two jounins earlier, Neji entered the Hokage's office to give her the mission report after he knocked on the door. He bowed to Tsunade after he closed the door and handed her the scroll. Shizune, the Hokage's most loyal assistant and secretary was standing next to the Hokage's desk as usual. Tsunade looked more weary and closer to her original age compared to the usual age-defying seal-genjutsu she wore for the last decade or so.

'_It's been a couple years and she still hasn't got over the fact that Naruto's missing and most likely dead, huh? Even I'm having trouble believing that Naruto might be dead by now. I think all of us are still hanging onto that hope even until now, including, and most especially Hinata-sama, that he's still alive somewhere.'_

"At ease, Hyuuga." The Hokage said to the ANBU.

Neji replied wordlessly and took off his tori mask – a falcon (one of the several types of existing ANBU bird masks), to be more exact.

"I trust your mission was a success?" Tsunade asked while placing the mission report aside on her desk.

"Haii, Tsunade-sama," Neji replied. He then proceeded with the explanation to the report while Shizune scribbled a few notes once in a while. Neji was in the middle of his report when suddenly all three occupants plus the several hidden ANBU guards around the office felt an intense amount of chakra wave from the direction of the old Uchiha compound.

"What the…!" Tsunade exclaimed.

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The water of the lake by the old Uchiha compound was swirling in a maddening speed, creating a huge vortex of water out of nowhere. There was a bluish light shining from under the water. Within a matter of seconds, the circular ball of light emerged from the center of the vortex and floated up several meters above the surface. It landed on the wooden deck that juts into the middle of the lake, the same deck where the younger remaining Uchiha brother spent most of his time practicing his _katon_ jutsu when he was a child. The light dissipated and from within the light emerged four cloaked figures standing casually on the deck. 

"So this is Konoha," the first figure stated. A teardrop-shaped necklace could be seen hanging around his neck just under the open partition of his cloak; the bright aquamarine color glinting brightly under the moonlight. If one squinted close enough, one could see some kind of a weird flower shape embedded inside the teardrop.

"Aaah, _natsukashii_…" replied the second figure. "It's been a while since I've been here at this lake. I've missed this place."

"Ne, you shinobis can detect _maryoku_ or chakra, right?" The third cloaked figure asked.

"Yeah," answered the second figure. "Why?"

"We've got company." The last and tallest figure said.

"Ah, damn it. How the hell did they know we're here? I was hoping we would not get discovered yet. I wanted it to be a surprise," exclaimed the second figure.

"Nyaa… it must've been from Shibuya's portal. His maryoku concentration is quite intense." The third figure said in amusement.

"Ahaha... _sumanai_. Perhaps it would've been better if I had opened the portal somewhere else?" The first one said nervously.

"We have to move. _Now_." The fourth figure said sternly. "Come with me."

In the blink of an eye, the four cloaked figures disappeared from the vicinity. Not even a few seconds later, the Hokage and several ANBU squads appeared on the deck where the four had been standing on.

"Tsunade-sama, the chakra burst originated from this spot. It's gone now, though." An _inu_-masked ANBU said. A huge white nin-dog that reaches the height of his waist was sniffing the wood of the deck and the ground around the lake. "How is it, Akamaru?" She whimpered a negative and shook her head, telling her partner that she couldn't find any trail of the scent other than on the deck. It disappeared without a trace leading anywhere.

"I want you all to issue an alert to the rest of the ANBU, jounins, and chuunin patrols for some possible dangerous intruders in the village!" Tsunade barked to her subordinates. "Whoever they are, they're most certainly powerful if they were able to mask their trail just seconds after we felt that chakra wave. Go!"

"Haii, Hokage-sama!" All of the ANBUs save for the one guarding the Hokage left the area immediately after the order.

"What the hell is going on here?" Tsunade said mostly to herself.

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Meanwhile, our four mysterious cloaked figures were hiding in one of the hidden rooms inside the main building of the Uchiha manor, underground. 

"Phew! That was a close call. Konoha ANBUs have become much better since the last time I was here," the second cloaked figure said. "_Ne_, _ne_, _Icchan_… are you sure they won't find us in here?"

The last figure twitched his right eye from the familiar use of pet-name the second figure gave him before answering, "Hn. Only one other person other than me knows about the existence of this room now. Besides, the entrance is sealed using a blood seal. Only an Uchiha could open the seal. The Hyuuga's Byakugan won't be able to see through the seal as well."

He pulled his cloak hood down to reveal long, silky, midnight-colored hair, bound with a thread by the nape of his neck. His blood-red eyes with three black _tomoes_ glinted under the dimly lit room.

"_Ne_, Itachi, is that the secret of your clan's Sharingan on the wall?" the third figure asked while pointing on a written section of the room's wall right across from where they were standing.

"Yeah, I promised you that you could take a look at it, didn't I?" answered Itachi.

"Hmm… interesting. I never would've expected something like this to exist on Earth."

The third figure pulled his hood down and walked closer to the huge scroll pinned on the wall to read it better. The fire from the torches on the walls was reflected on his round glasses. He had unruly blue-black hair and equally black eyes hidden behind the lenses. His face showed serious concentration and a frown as he read through the old Japanese kanji of the scroll. The black orbs of his eyes reflect some kind of wisdom and knowledge so deep that contrasted with his young face and soft features.

"It's been a while since we've encountered kanji, _ne_, Murata?" The first figure had also pulled down his hood, revealing his black hair and the deepest, rounded black orbs as eyes. Like Murata, the first figure had young and boyish features with an air of innocence around him. No one would believe that he was the one who projected the intense amount of chakra, or what Murata called _maryoku_, earlier on the lake.

The second figure stayed was silent and still cloaked as he skimmed through the words on the wall. His posture stiffened slightly when he read through the middle part of the history of the Sharingan that described the _Mangekyou_. The elder Uchiha saw the slight stiffening gesture. He moved closer toward the still cloaked figure and put his hand on the other's shoulder to offer comfort. The cloaked figure relaxed to the touch and looked to his right toward Itachi, offering a small smile of gratitude.

Realizing that the elder of the Uchiha brothers couldn't see his expression under the wide hood of the cloak, he pulled it down to reveal short, messy, blond hair and eyes of the deepest and most brilliant blue color underneath. Three pairs of whiskered cheeks adorned his slightly rounded, effeminate face. Around his neck was the Shodaime Hokage's necklace he won from the bet with Tsunade several years back.

"_Sou ka_…"

"You okay, Naru-kun?" Itachi asked in a concerned tone. He knew the reason why Naruto got nervous while reading the scroll on the wall. He was one hundred percent sure it involved the _mangekyou_ and his younger brother. _'Damn it, otouto. You have caused Naruto much grief.'_

"Yeah. Thanks for caring, Icchan." Naruto offered Itachi another small smile as the elder Uchiha squeezed his shoulder lightly. He reached up and put his right hand on top of Itachi's hand. Itachi let go of the pet name that time. "At least now I know for sure that Sasuke really thought of me as his best friend." Naruto whispered the last sentence to himself. The comment, however, did not go unnoticed by the other occupants of the room.

"This is a really dangerous bloodline that your clan possesses, Itachi." Murata commented after he finished reading the scroll. "I never would've expected humans to have evolved this much in such a short time."

"I don't think several hundred years would count as short, _Muraken_." Shibuya wryly replied.

"_Nyaah_, _suman_ Yuuri. I guess not for _humans_, ne?"

"I think it would be best if we lay low for the rest of the night. The ANBU and other patrol-nins are going to be actively searching for us after that huge burst of maryoku from the portal and we're not that far away from the lake." Itachi said. "There are several living quarters next to this room. This hidden underground part of the mansion was built as a safe house for during war purposes, so you'll be able to find food and other basic necessary survival items in the rooms across the hallway. There's even a bathroom down the hall if you need to freshen up."

"I want to see your village, though. I'd like to learn more about the history of _Konohagakure no Sato_ and the rest of the Elemental continent. Perhaps you could show me the library tomorrow morning, Itachi?" Murata said.

"Of course, _Daikenjya-sama_."

"Please, just call me by my name. That title belongs to the past, and not to mention, a different world. Here, on Earth, I'm just Murata Ken."

"I'll show you around the village and the Konoha Library tomorrow first thing in the morning, Murata."

"I would appreciate that, Itachi. Thank you. Now, why don't we retreat for the night?" Murata suggested.

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The next morning after breakfast, Naruto, Itachi, Murata and Yuuri discreetly left the Uchiha compound for a tour around Konoha, each of them dressed in civilian robes and under a powerful _genjutsu_–courtesy of Murata–that no other humans could detect, not even the Hokage herself. To avoid suspicion as they walked around the village, they compressed their chakra to the minimum level, just barely up to the level that most regular civilians have. It would not do well if either one of Naruto or Itachi was discovered inside the walls of Konoha since both were listed as S-rank nuke-nins; Itachi for believed to be the perpetrator to the Uchiha massacre, and Naruto for being the _jinchuuriki_ of the most powerful _bijuu_, Kyuubi no Kitsune. 

Naruto and Itachi showed the other two around Konoha, the place they called home. They skimmed through the village's most famous sites like the Hokage Monument–where the five faces of the past and present Hokages were carved into the mountain, where Murata and Yuuri mentioned something about it being similar to a president monument of a nation that had once existed in the past, the Konoha busy marketplace, even to the Fallen Hero Monument by the Team 7's old training grounds.

Itachi then proceeded to show Murata the library while Naruto guided Yuuri to the rest of the village. They promised to meet at Naruto's favorite ramen stand, _Ichiraku Ramen_ by lunch time. Naruto brought Yuuri back to the Hokage Monument, however this time they climbed up onto the top of the mountain to enjoy the aerial view of Konoha.

"Your village is beautiful, Naru. It's different from _Shin-Makoku_, yet as equally enchanting. It reminds me of my original hometown. Very similar, actually… Konoha is like the combination of old Japanese villages in the Feudal era and modern cities of the past." Yuuri chuckled. "You guys even speak in Japanese, albeit an evolved format of it, while the whole continent is comprised of shinobis! I bet Ken is having the moment of his life researching about the Elemental continent right now."

They had agreed before they left the compound earlier that while outside, they would call Naruto 'Naru' while Itachi would be 'Icchan' for secrecy purposes and to avoid the ANBUs on their tails.

"Arigatou, Yuuri. Konoha is my precious home. I would do anything to protect the village." Both of them were sitting on the head of the Yondaime, looking out to the Hidden Village of the Leaves, watching the bustle and hustle of the villagers as they went on about their lives.

'**Pfftt… I still don't understand what's so good about this wretched village of yours, kit.'** Kyuubi said from inside his cage. Naruto's seal on his stomach tingled as Kyuubi grumbled about the village.

'_Shut up, Kyuu. Even Yuuri understands the beauty of the village.'_

'**Hmmph! That **_**hennachoko**_** of a **_**MaOu**_** has always been soft since the first time I've known him ages ago.'**

"Talking to Wol—err, Kyuu, again, Naru?" Yuuri asked the now glazed-eyed teen beside him.

Naruto blinked. "Aa… sorry about that. He said you're a wimp again, by the way."

"_Hennachoko yuu na_! _Mou_… Wolfu, when are you going to stop calling me that?" Yuuri retorted while Naruto laughed out loud and Kyuubi chuckled from inside the seal.

They enjoyed the autumn breeze atop the mountain for the next few minutes while watching the clouds and the village activity peacefully.

"_Ne_, Naru?"

"_Haii_?"

"Do you think you could let _Wolfu_ out for a while?"

"Eeh? Let Kyuu out? Is that such a good idea? I mean…"

"Don't worry; there is no one around the area, trust me." Yuuri said.

Naruto believed him since he knew how good Yuuri's senses were. Being a thousands-of-years-old Demon King had its perks; one of them was having the skill to detect the chakra of any and every living beings around him. The _MaOu_'s heightened senses could expand as far as several miles out, easily encompassing the whole of Konohagakure and its surrounding forest. Of course, right now Yuuri was only using a small fraction of his senses, just enough to cover several hundred meters in diameter around the two of them, in order to both conserve his maryoku and to avoid being detected by the more chakra-sensitive shinobis in the village; one such as the Hokage and her ANBU squads.

Naruto nodded before he performed the _kage bunshin_ combined with the temporary soul-releasing jutsu he learned from the demon king, while Yuuri put up a small _kekkai_ barrier around them so the chakra burst from the jutsu did not alert anyone in the vicinity, just in case.

Naruto was not worried even the slightest of letting Kyuubi out; not after he spent the last couple of years with the friendly MaOu next to him in their world. There was a poof of smoke next to the two on the mountain right after Naruto completed the hand seals for the jutsu.

From within the smoke, instead of a towering figure of the red, nine-tailed demon fox, there stood a young man, who could easily pass as a girl, with soft, slightly curly platinum blond hair and emerald-colored eyes. With his effeminate features clad in simple civilian blue shirt and black pants, one would not suspect him as being the Kyuubi no Kitsune at all.

"Hey Wolfu!"

"_Hennachoko_! And you too, Kit! Did you have to wait so long to release me?" Kyuu, or rather, Wolfu, as Yuuri called him, complained in his high tenor voice. He sounded very much different from his Kyuubi form.

"Cheh, Wolfram. How many times have I told you not to call me a wimp? You should be glad that I asked Naru to release you." Yuuri retorted in amusement.

"Hmmph. No matter how old or powerful you are, Yuuri, you're still my wimp." Wolfram retorted back in mirth.

"_Ara_… Wolfu, you're out!" A voice called from behind the three. Naruto, Yuuri and Wolfram looked behind their shoulders to find Itachi and Murata walking up to them.

"Ah, Icchan, Ken, is it time already? I didn't realize it." Naruto said sheepishly. Itachi plopped down next to Naruto gracefully while Murata sat down next to Yuuri and Wolfram.

"Nah, Icchan and I finished early. We've found quite a lot of information about the history of the Elemental continent. It's fascinating, really. You won't believe how Earth nations have changed and evolved since the last time we were here, Yuuri. I decided to come back later to do more research. Oooh, the view is rather nice from here," commented Murata as he looked out to the village.

"_Deshou _(isn't it)? Kyu, err, Wolfu here does not think so." Naruto said.

"Hmmph, I never said it's not beautiful here. I just don't understand why you could still love this village for everything its inhabitants have done to you in the past. Seriously, you're just soft like Yuuri here," complained Wolfram.

"Humans always fear what they don't understand. They deem those more powerful as threats. It's been carved into their most basic instinct since the beginning of time." Murata said while still looking out towards Konoha. The other four silently contemplated the Great Sage's words of wisdom. Murata was the one to have lived the longest between the five of them. He had practically and literally experienced thousands of years of lives as different people in both Earth and Shin-Makoku.

"I made a promise. I would become Hokage sometime and dedicate my life to protect this village. I would not even hesitate to sacrifice my life if I had to. Just like my father did." Naruto said quietly. Wolfram or Kyuu could only stay quiet as he listened to Naruto's statement. "I made a promise, and I never go back on my word. That's my _nindo_!"

Itachi, Yuuri, Murata, and Wolfram all wore a smile as they heard the youngest member of the group declared his nindo. It's amazing how the young shinobi could liven up any kinds of situation. Naruto was like the sun, lighting and warming up those around him, much like Yuuri did when he first came to Shin-Makoku from Earth to become the MaOu. Perhaps that's why both became fast friends when they met each other a couple years back.

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A/N: Wheee! Chapter 1 is here. Hopefully you guys enjoyed that. I realized that the prologue was too short and too mysterious, however there's a very valid reason for this. 

Some of you probably are not familiar with Kyou Kara Maou, however you need not worry about it too much. I'm only using 3 characters from KKMaou: **Shibuya Yuuri**, the half-human, half-mazoku Demon King; **Wolfram von Bielefeld** (who's also Kyuubi in my story), the blond pure-blood mazoku prince who got accidentally engaged with Yuuri the first day Yuuri got transported to _Shin-Makoku_, the so-called demon kingdom; and **Murata Ken**, Yuuri's best friend and the mazoku's famous _Daikenjya-sama_, or Great Sage.

For the sake of you readers who are only following the Naruto series and not Kyou Kara Maou, I'll be putting bits and pieces of crucial information needed to this story about the 3 characters. Although it is best if you knew about KKM beforehand, it's not necessarily needed to understand this story.

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_Mazoku_: Demon Tribe; _Shin-Makoku_: New Demon Kingdom

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And, as you've already noticed, I'll be using quite a lot of Japanese terms in this story. Most of them are supposedly self-explanatory if you pay attention to the context of the sentence they're used in. However, if there's a term you don't understand, I'm sure it won't be too hard to find their meaning online, since I'll only be using the basic and most common ones. Most avid manga and anime fans are usually familiar with them already. 

Lastly, as always, I'll be asking for you to write me reviews. Reviews are like supplements for writers to keep them going, or like soldier pills to replenish their exhausted writing chakra, heh… They let us know whether or not you enjoy the story. So… _onegai_, click that review button and drop me a note! Thanks for reading! Ja!

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Coming up next… Chapter 2: **MaOu and Shin-Makoku!**


	3. Ch 2: MaOu and ShinMakoku

**Horizon**

A Naruto & KKMaou fanfic by Jetede.

Standard disclaimer apply… We all know I don't own Naruto or Kyou Kara Maou.

**Warning**: A LOT of spoilers to both series in this fic: up to the last chapters of Naruto manga, and up to the final episode to Kyou Kara Maou anime! I always try to refer to the latest Naruto manga as I'm writing. **Go finish the KKM anime and read chapter 354 before you read this fic if you don't like spoilers!**

Thanks for all your reviews so far! I read each and every one of them. I'm very excited to find out that people like my fic; a little bit disappointed with the small amount of reviews I've only got so far, but still excited. I was kind of expecting it, though. I realized that not many people like to read 'unknown' crossovers. I guess _Kyou Kara Maou_ is not as popular as I thought it is. Hopefully this chapter will improve the story traffic and reviews I'll be getting.

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_**Horizon**__. Such a simple word, with a huge meaning behind it._

_The human dictionary described __**horizon**__ as 'the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky'. While a __**sensible horizon**__ is 'the small circle of the celestial sphere whose plane is tangent to the earth at the position of a given observer, or the plane of such a circle,' a __**rational horizon**__ is 'the great circle of the celestial sphere whose plane passes through the center of the earth and is parallel to the sensible horizon of a given position, or the plane of such a circle. Sometimes it is also called the __**celestial horizon**_

_The horizon separates the earth from the sky. In reality, that's not its only job…the horizon does not only separate, but it is also the last line of defense between two worlds._

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**Chapter 2: MaOu and Shin-Makoku (part I)**

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_Itachi, Yuuri, Murata, and Wolfram all wore a smile as they heard the youngest member of the group declared his nindo. It's amazing how the young shinobi could liven up any kinds of situation. Naruto was like the sun, lighting and warming up those around him, much like Yuuri did when he first came to Shin-Makoku from Earth to become the MaOu. Perhaps that's why both became fast friends when they met each other a couple years back._

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By the time Naruto, Itachi, Yuuri, Murata and Wolfram in his small fox-kit form reached Ichiraku Ramen for lunch, it was already past noon. Since Wolfram refused to return inside Naruto's seal, the group decided that it would've been better for Wolfram a.k.a. Kyuubi to be in his fox kit form in order to avoid the group from drawing attention to themselves. Wolfram with his bright blond hair and striking emerald eyes isn't exactly stealth material and would attract the villager's attention like bee to honey in seconds; not to mention the fact that the once mazoku prince is drop-dead-gorgeous to boot. In his fox kit form, Wolfu had bright orange fur with bright sunny yellow color at the tip of his ears and tails. 

"Waah! I would never have expected Teuchi-ji-san to be this successful in just a few years," exclaimed Naruto who was still in his mazoku-improved henge and civilian garbs. The four 'young' men took a table on the far corner of the room, by the glass windows, overlooking the streets outside. The restaurant was almost packed full with shinobis and civilian villagers alike. What was once a small ramen stand with just several seats was now a fully-established ramen restaurant. They took their seats and ordered their ramen from the waitress.

Naruto took a seat with his back facing the front door and to his left, the glass windows. Across from him sat Yuuri with Wolfu perched on his shoulders. Itachi, also in his henge, sat next to Naruto. Murata took the seat next to Yuuri, facing the rest of the restaurant—the front door within the two mazoku's view. Since no one in this world knew either of them, the two mazoku didn't bother to change their appearance other than their clothes.

"It's been a while since I've had miso ramen, or any ramen for that matter." Naruto said again. "I still don't understand why you didn't have ramen in your country, Yuuri."

'_**You and your ramen addiction, kit. I don't understand how you could stand eating that garbage. No wonder you're still shorter than others your age. Honestly, you're worse than Ken and the wimp and their addiction to curry!'**_ said Wolfram. Only the group understood what Wolfram said in his fox form while to the others around them, it would only seem that the fox kit was barking and yipping.

"Look who's talking! You were as addicted to my mother's curry when you used to visit us in the past," protested Yuuri to the fox while the others laughed at their friendly banter. Wolfram just _hmmph_-ed and threw his face to the right smugly as he jumped down from his perch on Yuuri's shoulders. He settled down comfortably on the windowsill to enjoy the afternoon sun. Murata reached up across the table and stroke the fur right behind his ears while Wolfram purred contentedly.

"Well, it's been quite a while since we had Japanese food. I miss your mother's cooking, Shibuya," commented Murata.

"Yeah. I miss her too, Ken." Yuuri said with a sad smile. "I miss everyone else, as well." The others just stayed quiet and offered the MaOu a comforting smile. They knew what it meant to shoulder such a big responsibility like Yuuri did. Although they didn't exactly understand how it felt, at least Itachi knew the pain of loss, while Naruto understood very well the meaning of being alone. Murata and Wolfram were kind of at the same boat with Yuuri, so they understood perfectly well how he felt. Not a long moment later, their orders arrived on their table, breaking up the slightly somber mood. They started to lightly chat about nothing and everything as they consumed their lunch.

In the middle of their meal, the restaurant's front door opened. The bell hanging on the door rang from the vibration, informing the restaurant owner of the arrival of new customers. Naruto stiffened when he felt the familiar chakra of the people who just entered the place. The rest of the group noticed his change of posture and looked up to the entrance, while Itachi stayed relaxed in his seat. He'd already felt the group coming and recognized their chakra signature.

"Oi, Teuchi-ossan! The usual please!"

There, by the entrance of Ichiraku Ramen, were Naruto's friends from the Rookie-9 (minus himself and Sasuke), Team Gai, Sai, and even Akamaru. From their walks around Konoha that morning, Naruto and Itachi found out that they were now well-known as the Konoha Elite. The one who hollered was Kiba.

"Ooh, lucky! We got empty seats here, guys."

The group of eleven rearranged the tables right behind Naruto and took their seats there. The rest of the group ordered their meals and chatted amiably with each other. Every one of them was wearing their usual uniforms. Neji and Kiba were out of their ANBU uniforms with Kiba adorning his jounin vest.

'_These must be Naruto's friends.'_ Murata thought.

Yuuri and Murata paid close attention to this new group as they recognized them from the blond's slight stiffening and from Naruto's stories before they came to Konoha. Wolfram, also recognizing the group, peeked through one of his emerald-colored eyes and twitched his ears while trying to focus on listening to their conversation. Naruto was quiet all the time and he only relaxed a bit after Itachi once again put his hand on the Naruto's shoulder to offer some comfort.

"So have you guys found a lead to last night's mysterious chakra surge?" Naruto recognized Tenten's cute high-pitched voice asked the others at the table. Since his back was facing the group, he could only try to recognize them by their voices and the feel of their chakra.

"_Mendoukusei_…no we haven't."

'_Shikamaru.' _Naruto mused_. 'You haven't changed at all.'_

"It's weird, really. Their scent was all over the deck, but it just disappeared without trace outside the lake area. There were no prints or any kinds of track around. Akamaru and I had been looking around the village all night last night."

"That's really weird. Whatever caused that chakra surge last night must've been really powerful. I was at the hospital on standby when I felt it. I haven't felt anything like it ever since Naruto…"

'_Sakura…'_

"Could it be the Kyuubi?" Shino asked.

'_They know!'_

"I don't think so. The chakra felt different from the one that I felt during the chuunin exam about six years ago. It was intense, yes, but it wasn't really evil. There was no killing intent in it, yet it didn't feel human either." Neji said.

Naruto panicked and stiffened once again. His chair scraped lightly on the floor from the sudden movement. His eyes widened in revelation that his friends knew about his furry little tenant…well except that Kyuubi in his real form wasn't really furry. Wolfram was awake by now—both eyes opened and ears taut—while still lying relaxed on the table. It wouldn't be good to alarm the other group if he made any sudden 'abnormal' moves—although it might have been too late.

Shino, Neji, Sai and Shikamaru looked towards the four in slight suspicion.

"Ah, sumimasen nee-san, can we please have another pork ramen?" Murata called out to the waitress, redirecting their attention towards him. He squeezed Naruto's right hand across the table in good measure. Naruto snapped out of his thought and relaxed once more.

"A…ah, yeah. One for me as well, nee-san!" Naruto said. He smiled at Murata in gratitude. Itachi laid his hand on Naruto's knee for reassurance.

The youngest member of the group looked up to his right. _'Thanks, Itachi.'_ He thought.

'_Anytime, Naru-chan.'_

Their slight gestures did not go unnoticed by Shikamaru at the next table, though. He narrowed his eyes further to the four civilians who had started to talk with each other again by then. He ignored the others as they continued their conversation about last night's incident, if it could've been called that, as he kept an eye open towards the other table.

Shikamaru noted the general appearance of the strangers at the table since he couldn't exactly see all the details from his angle. The two young men whose faces were visible from his point of view both had black-colored hair and eyes. While the one with the round glasses with the messy hair wore a simple long-sleeved dark maroon colored jacket and black t-shirt underneath, the other one wore a kind combination of Neji and Tenten's shirt, but in black.

'_Late teens, early twenties, perhaps?'_

He couldn't see the others' faces, but the one who had reacted earlier had light brown hair and was wearing a simple navy blue colored shirt, its long sleeves were folded up to the elbows, revealing his slightly tanned skin. His light tan long cloak was laid down on the windowsill beside him. The last guy who was sitting next to him had slightly longer dark brown hair tied up at the nape of his neck with a white rubber band. He wore a sleeveless dark green shirt on top of a long-sleeved white one. All four of them wore similar straight-cut black trousers and civilian sneakers.

'_Something's not right about those guys. They look like your average traveler and their chakra level is normal for civilians, yet there's something else about them that doesn't feel right. And then there's that fox on the table…Cheh, mendoukusei...'_

The four exited the restaurant and headed towards the library after paying. Shikamaru, still suspicious of the civilians' behavior earlier, excused himself from the group by saying something about patrol duty and started following the four. He watched from a good distance as they passed through the marketplace while stopping at the shops once in a while. He did not miss the strange orange-colored fox perched on the black-haired youth with equally black shirt—contrasting with the bright colors of the fox kit's fur. The combination of black and orange somehow reminded him of Naruto. Shikamaru realized after a while that the group was talking with each other in a different language.

'_What the…what language is that? Tourists, huh?'_

"**Na-chan… don't freak out, okay… but one of your friends is following us—the one with the pineapple-styled hair."** Murata said in the original mazoku language. He shortened Naruto's pet name even further as a precaution, since he knew Shikamaru was listening to their conversation, although he wouldn't be able to understand them.

Naruto sighed inwardly while looking at the jewelry at the shop's display. **"Already, huh? As expected from that lazy genius, I guess. I wasn't exactly subtle in the restaurant earlier. He must've been suspicious of my reaction towards the mention of Kyuubi."** Both Itachi and he had _'learned'_ the language almost immediately after their arrival at Shin-Makoku.

'_**Tch. Baka.'**_ Wolfram yipped while Yuuri chuckled.

"**Shut up, Wolfu."**

"**That's the infamous Konoha's new strategist, Na-chan?"** asked Itachi.

"**Aah. I can't mention his name, but it basically means 'Deer'…"** answered Naruto.

Yuuri pulled cheerfully at Naruto towards the food stands across the street. **"Maa… it's okay. Don't worry about it. Just act normal and everything will be fine. Besides, you guys still owe me that half of the tour. Let's get that sweet mochi-dango across the street, ne?! I haven't tasted one in several hundred years!"**

Itachi and Murata just chuckled at the MaOu's childish and carefree antics.

"**No one would seriously ever think that he's a Demon King…even I was skeptical at first."** Itachi commented to Murata.

"**Ahaha…that's how Yuuri is. It's amazing, really. He's always able to turn everything into their positive side. Shibuya is a **_**half-full-glass-type**_** of person. I guess it's one of the reasons why he's the most powerful MaOu that ever exists in the world,"** Murata said.

"**Ne…Icchan, Ken, I wanna get this mochi-dango, give me the money, will you?"** Yuuri shouted from across the street while Itachi face-faulted and Murata laughed out loud.

Shikamaru relaxed a bit when he saw the strangers' carefree attitude; however he decided to keep following them. After all, one has to look underneath the underneath in all kinds of situation. Apparently Kakashi's been rubbing off on him.

"Mendoukusei," he muttered.

He kept a close watch at the strangers for the rest of the day. After their shopping and village tour, the 'tourists' spent the rest of the afternoon in the Konoha Library, at the history section. Shikamaru noted each and every one of the books they took out from the shelves from the shadows. Shikamaru had spent the past few years perfecting his shadow-walking skill for reconnaissance purposes. The shadow element was the Nara family's expertise, after all. Most of the books and scrolls taken out of the shelves involved the history of _Konohagakure no Sato_ (Hidden Village of the Leaves) and _Hi no Kuni_ (Fire Country), while some others were about the Elemental Countries in general. That confirmed his suspicion about them being from outside the Elemental Country. The question is, from where?

"**The **_**'Deer'**_** is so persistent."** Naruto commented again in the mazoku language, so Shikamaru could not eavesdrop on their conversation.

"**I commend his patience. He's been tailing us for the whole afternoon,"** Yuuri said. Wolfu kept quiet on his shoulders, giving the impression that he was asleep, although he was actually alert all the time.

"**He's a jounin and a strategist. It's normal to be patient. You're just too impatient most of the time, Na-chan," **teased Itachi. Naruto punched him playfully on the upper arm in retaliation. Itachi just chuckled in reply.

"**I found something, Yuuri." **Murata said all of a sudden.** "You know how there are many different Hidden Villages in the Elemental Continent? Apparently the whole continent itself was hidden in the literal sense during our time."**

"**What do you mean literally hidden? How does one hide a whole continent? Even during our time, we were quite technology-advanced. We had satellites in the outer space, constantly monitoring the surface of the Earth. How is it possible for a whole continent to be hidden?" **asked Yuuri.

"**According to this old text, the sea gave birth to the world—now mind you, 'world' here refers to the Elemental Continent only, not the whole world in the literal sense—although, according to the laws of evolution we were taught in school, we were born out of the sea—but I digressed… you see, this whole continent literally popped out from under the sea one day. The text talked about a group of celestial being with elemental powers who found the land and resided here about a few thousand years ago."** Murata paused to let the others chew in the information. **"Now, you and I both know that humans in our time originally did not have the ability to use these elemental powers. Who had them at that time?"**

"**Masaka…are you saying…?"**

"**Exactly. We know that about during the time when I was still the **_**Daikenjya**_**, Shinou and I ordered your ancestor to go from Shin-Makoku to Earth to hide one of the Forbidden Boxes. Your ancestor assimilated with humans here, on Earth, and eventually one could not differentiate mazoku from humans anymore."** Murata explained more for the benefit of Itachi and Naruto who were not as familiar with the history of Shin-Makoku as the two mazoku did. **"After some time, the box fell under the care of Bob, the Earth MaOu of our time, and we took it back from Switzerland to Shin-Makoku at that time." **

"**What does this have anything to do with the hidden continent?"** asked Naruto.

"**I'm getting there. Now, the records mentioned something more about these celestial beings. There is a myth about two celestial brothers and a great sage in one of these texts. One day, the elder of the two took his place and ruled over the other celestial beings here on Earth while the younger one left with his best friend, the great sage, to return to their original world and resided there as their king. Sound familiar?"**

Yuuri groaned in exasperation. **"Oh God…you mean they described us and **_**Shori**_** as celestial beings?"** Murata chuckled.

"**Shori? Your older brother, Yuuri?" **Itachi asked.

"**Yeah, I told you about him when we were still in Shin-Makoku before. My brother inherited the title of the MaOu of the Earth from Bob, who was still the Earth MaOu at that time. I've told you two the story about how we had to seal up four Forbidden Boxes in order to defeat **_**Soushu**_**, the evil power, right?" **Itachi and Naruto nodded at Yuuri's enquire. **"Well, after we destroyed Soushu, Shori returned to Earth and inherited the MaOu title a few years afterwards, while I returned to Shin-Makoku with Ken."**

"**That Forbidden Box incident and the defeat of Soushu was also the reason why Yuuri was, and still is, the most powerful Demon King to ever walk the Earth and Shin-Makoku. That's also the reason why he was chosen to become a guardian…but that's another subject for later."** Murata explained while he took out another book and some scrolls.

"**You can read that gibberish?"** asked Naruto.

"**Yes, it's written in the Roman alphabet of English language instead of Japanese kanji. It's one of the major languages of the Earth during our time. Now, according to this text, sometime during the older of the two celestial being's reign, he found a new continent in the middle of the big ocean. There's no detail about how a huge chunk of land could suddenly appear in the middle of the ocean like that—since it should've practically messed up the balance between the land and the sea, and not to mention, raised the sea level by a significant number—but it just did."** Murata continued. **"Somehow, Shori managed to hide this new continent under a really powerful illusion **_**kekkai**_**-barrier—you people called it genjutsu, I believe—and hid it from the rest of the world. During that time, the world peace and political balance was barely hanging on a thread. **

"**According to the text, Shori predicted that the third coming of the World War was near. Before all that happened, your brother somehow managed to make this new continent into a kind of a save haven, a utopia on Earth, if you please. A selected number of people, both mazoku and humans alike, started to migrate to the new continent secretly. I'm guessing that Shori had a major hand in selecting who got to move and who didn't. **

"**Not long after, his prediction came true. And because of the kekkai, the new continent was somehow safe** **from destruction of war,"** Murata explained. **"That new continent became what you guys called the Elemental Continent. Basically, we're standing on it now."**

"**What happened to the outside world, then? Does Japan even still exist?"**

"**That one I cannot answer you. There's no record of the outside world in this library. I've checked all the shelves with the help of Icchan this morning. I don't even know if the kekkai is still there. You yourself must've realized that just because we are immortal guardians of the worlds, it does not mean we're God."**

"**Yeah, I know. Sorry…"** Yuuri said.

"**Now, guess where we are exactly located at?"**

"**Where?"**

"**Atlantic Ocean." **Murata paused before he continued, **"Now what does that remind you of?"**

"…**wait a second. We're on Atlantis? You mean the legend is true?"** Yuuri exclaimed in a whispered voice.

"**Apparently so…"** Murata chuckled**. "Amazing, eh? If you think about it, even the story of these celestial beings—who were actually mazoku—is now classified under legends and myths. We both know that they actually existed during our time. Who knows, the real Atlantis might've existed even way before our time, way in the past."**

"**Whoa…"** Naruto said while Itachi concurred silently.

"**I know. Overwhelming, huh? This is a lot of information to swallow. I actually found most of them under the category of myths and legends of the Elemental Continent,"** Murata said once more. During the long explanation about the world history, Wolfram kept quiet and still with his eyes closed as he lay around Yuuri's neck. To those paying attention to the group of four, the fox looked bored and sleepy as he yawned once in a while. In reality, though, he was absorbing the information and contemplated on it in silence.

"**We better clean up here. The library is closing soon,"** Itachi finally said**. "Do you want to leave the books and scrolls at the read-book collection table, or return them to their respective shelves?"**

"**Let's just leave them on the read-book collection table,"** Murata mused. **"I'm sure our 'Deer' friend would be interested to know what it is we spent so much time on in this library." **Murata's glasses glinted under the light while Yuuri could only shake his head in disbelief.

"**You do realize that whoever is going to research on these books after us is going to have one hell of a time trying to find out which particular information it is we were reading on, right?"** Yuuri asked while one of his eyebrows lifted in inquiry.

"**Why should they have it the easy way if Icchan and I had to spend the whole day researching?"** Murata chuckled again.

"**You're evil…"**

"**I'm the sidekick-partner of a Demon King, afterall." **Murata grinned while once again while Yuuri shook his head. Naruto and Itachi could only sweat-drop in the background. They were both glad that these two powerful beings were their allies, instead of enemies. **"Besides, one way or another, they're going to find out about it—at least the higher-ranking ones in the village will…" **

'_Let them suffer a bit beforehand'_ was left unsaid, yet the others in the group knew what the great sage was thinking about.

True to Murata's guess, Shikamaru made a kage bunshin and told it to check out the books and scrolls for future reference, while his real self continued following the group.

'_Damn those 'tourists' and their foreign language. In the end, I couldn't find anything about what they were discussing about. I'll have to ask someone to help me read these books. Tch, Mendoukusei…'_

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A/N: Wow! That's a lot of information! I have no idea where that came from. After all, most writers would probably agree with me if I said that a story tends to write itself, ne? We writers are just the medium for it to flow out onto paper…or in this case…into the computer, heh. 

Keep feeding me with those reviews, now. I'm hoping that I'll get more reviews out of this chapter. Tell me if you like the story or not. How about the pace? Does the story feel too slow? Too fast? Too much information in one go? Do the characters seem to be in-character, or are they out-of-character? You could even write me suggestions as to what you want to happen in the story if you want.

If you're familiar with Yuuri, Murata, and Wolfram from KKM, please keep in mind that this is the 3 of them after living for at least an extra 1000 years or so. So their characters might change a bit. They're ancient beings now…although they didn't grow physically, they grew mentally. I've always liked the idea of a witty, secretive, and slightly evil Daikenjya of Murata Ken. I mean, he didn't live for at least 5000 years (4000 years in the original KKMaou, and plus the at least 1000 years or so from my story) for nothing. He's seen a lot, tasted a lot, and been through even much more. He's actually a very complex character.

Hopefully this chapter explains more about KKMaou world for those of you who are not familiar with it. _Shori_, Yuuri's older brother, is not part of the main characters of the story. I just had to include him there in order to make the story so it made sense. In the anime ending, Bob (the MaOu of the Earth at that time) was seen training Shori to inherit his 'company'—so it can be assumed that he really became the next Earth MaOu.

So, what are you waiting for? Press that review button below and start writing me some! Like I've said before, reviews replenish writer's writing maryoku…kukukuku… Oh and you'll see more ItaNaru soon, don't worry about that… (And probably some YuuRam as well). But then again, keep in mind that this is rated T! No hentai thoughts, now!


	4. Ch 3: Fate and Choice

**Horizon**

A Naruto & KKMaou fanfic by Jetede.

Standard disclaimer apply… We all know I don't own Naruto or Kyou Kara Maou.

**Warning**: Spoilers up to chapter 354!

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_**Horizon**__…such a simple word with a huge meaning behind it._

_The human dictionary described __**horizon**__ as 'the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky'. While a __**sensible horizon**__ is 'the small circle of the celestial sphere whose plane is tangent to the earth at the position of a given observer, or the plane of such a circle,' a __**rational horizon**__ is 'the great circle of the celestial sphere whose plane passes through the center of the earth and is parallel to the sensible horizon of a given position, or the plane of such a circle. Sometimes it is also called the __**celestial horizon**_

_The horizon separates the earth from the sky. In reality, that's not its only job…the horizon does not only separate, but it is also the last line of defense between two worlds._

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**Chapter 3: Fate and Choice**

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'_Damn those 'tourists' and their foreign language. In the end, I couldn't find anything about what they were discussing about. I'll have to ask someone to help me read these books. Tch, Mendoukusei…'_

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"A ryo for your thoughts?"

"_Ohayou gozaimasu_, Icchan."

"Ohayou, Naru."

It had been a few days since the four found the information in Konoha Library. Murata had decided to let the Konoha-nins suffer a bit while trying to figure out what they were onto before revealing themselves to them. That's why for the past few days, the two mazokus have been enjoying their 'vacation' in the village, buying all kinds of different food and souvenirs like how tourists normally are. Sometimes they would go back to the library to do some more reading.

That morning, Itachi found Naruto sitting on the blond's favorite spot in Konoha: on top of the head of the Yondaime Hokage of the Hokage Monument. Naruto was sitting in between the Yondaime's spiky tresses, looking across the village, enjoying the first rays of sunrise as it washed out the dull greys of the village into different bursts of colors.

Itachi invited himself to sit next to Naruto. The latter instinctively leaned his head on his companion's left shoulder and stayed there, still watching the horizon as it slowly turned from warm orangey-yellow into light blue. They could hear the birds stirring and chirping in the forest behind them, welcoming the new day.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I've been thinking about everything, I guess…from the beginning of my life eighteen years ago until the most recent events. Who would've thought that my life could be so complicated?" Naruto snorted. He buried his head further into the crook between Itachi's neck and shoulder. Both of them were still in their special _henge_ and wearing their traveling clothes.

The four of them had been staying at an inn by the heart of the village since Shikamaru was keeping a close watch on them. They were positive that by then, the Hokage was already alerted of their existence in the village. Sometimes Naruto would feel a different chakra signature of one of his friends spying on them—most of the times it would either be Shika, Kiba, or Shino, since they were part of the ANBU reconnaissance unit, and would be the best for spying. Naruto was almost worried that they would recognize him and Itachi by their scent, especially since both Kiba and Shino had encountered Uchiha Itachi during their special mission several years ago, to hunt the very same person who was currently sitting next to him, just before he went missing.

Speaking of spying, both Naruto and Itachi could feel the suppressed chakra of a different person today.

'_Wait, is that Kakashi-sensei?'_ Naruto smiled inwardly. _'Ah, Pakkun is out as well.'_ No doubt to try to sniff out their scents. Of course that old hag of a Hokage would send Kakashi-sensei and Pakkun here. After all, they have encountered the elder Uchiha several times in the past.

'_They probably thought we had something to do with Akatsuki, or something. I guess they've taken the village security up a notch since I've been gone.'_

"**Cyclops and his favorite dog-summon are here,"** Naruto said in mazoku language.

"**Aa, I know. Worried?"** replied Itachi.

Naruto snorted again. **"Hardly. Besides, it's not like we're really trying to hide. They would find out about us sooner or later…sooner if not for the fact that Yuuri and Murata are enjoying this too much. Then again, I owe the old hag an explanation about why I've been missing for the last two and a half years." **He paused. **"You know, you'll have to explain to them what really happened ten years ago."**

Itachi's eyes darkened. **"There's nothing to explain."**

"**Ita—"**

"**The fact of the matter is…I did kill them, Naru. Nothing could change the fact that the clan died by my hands."**

"**But it wasn't your fault! If anything, it was mine! It was my fault that your family and your clan died!"** Naruto shouted.

"**Listen to me, Naru. It was NOT your fault."** Itachi said to Naruto as he held the latter's shoulders by both of his hands. **"Never, **_**never**_** ever blame yourself for what happened that night. Do you hear me?"** Naruto slowly nodded as he bit his bottom lip until it bled. **"Besides, if it's not because of you, I wouldn't be here now."**

Both were quiet for a few seconds after that. **"…y—"** Naruto whispered. **"…why me?"**

Itachi contemplated before answering, **"You're the Chosen One—Yuuri **_**Maou Heika**_** said that, didn't he?"**

"**Aah…"** Naruto snorted again. **"I never thought that there would come a day where I will succumb to something called Destiny or Fate."**

"**You're a bad liar and you, yourself know it."**

Naruto smiled. **"I can't hide anything from you, can I?"**

Itachi returned the gesture with his own small smile. **"Well, you're the one who told me that Fate does not exist. We choose our own path. We may have been provided with several selections of these so called paths, but in the end, it's our decision to choose which one we will take."** He paused. **"The MaOu himself faced a similar kind of decision making during his time, didn't he?—so did the Great Sage before him."**

Itachi put his right hand under Naruto's jaw to turn his head so he could look directly at him. Naruto's eyes were glazed with unshed tears.

"**I told you, no matter what you choose, I'll support you all the way. You don't have to face this alone."** Itachi caressed his cheek and leaned forward. Naruto closed his eyes as Itachi kissed his forehead tenderly. A tear dropped to his other cheek from one of his closed eyes. Itachi moved to kiss that cheek next and continued down to Naruto's abused lips. His own lips met Naruto's in a tender, passionate kiss while Naruto responded as eagerly. Both of them didn't care that they were being watched—_they_ were going to find out about their relationship sooner or later anyway.

"**You know, I would actually prefer kissing your real self instead of a **_**henged**_** version of you. It feels like I'm somehow cheating on you this way."** Itachi said teasingly as they finally separated. Naruto laughed as he leaned his head on the elder Uchiha's chest. He put his arms around Itachi's shoulders and back and hugged him closer.

Itachi hugged Naruto back with an unspoken gesture of_ 'I'll always be here for you, koi.'_

'_I know, Itachi. Thank you.'_

* * *

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"Are you sure they were reading _these_ texts at the library, Shikamaru?"

Sakura, Tenten, Shikamaru and Hinata were at one of the conference rooms at the Hokage Tower, reading and researching on the books and scrolls Shikamaru checked out several days ago after spying on the four. Sakura was the one who asked the question.

"Yes. I checked them out from the library as soon as they left them on the collection table."

"Well, these are texts about the history of Hi no Kuni and Elemental Continent," Sakura pointed to the ones right in front of her. "While those ones focus more on the different existing legends and myths around the world, some written in our language and some others in an old language called English. I mean, these guys are travelers right? It's not strange for them to be interested in history and myths. For all we know, they could be traveling scholars of some sort."

"Sakura is right, Shikamaru. What made you so suspicious of them, anyway?" asked Hinata.

The three girls were asked by the strategist to help him in reading the texts since there was no way for him to do it by himself. Sakura was the best choice since she's the smartest _kunoichi_ in their group, while Hinata was the most diligent, and Tenten was a perfectionist—therefore they're the perfect candidates for the research mission. The Godaime Hokage even made it an official B-rank mission since it involved the very safety of the village, and not to mention: heavy research.

"Mendoukusei…think about it. These so-called tourists know at least 3 different languages—proficient enough that they were able to read some of these older texts written in English. No ordinary people still have the knowledge on that language—at least not the ones from Elemental Continent. They were also talking in our language and another weird foreign language I've never heard before. I don't think these are mere travelers, Hinata."

"Are you saying that these people might have something to do with that chakra surge several nights ago?" asked Tenten.

"I'm not sure, but isn't it rather convenient that all of a sudden we got four 'scholars' visiting our village the day after the chakra blast?" Shikamaru retorted.

"Hmm… that does sound suspicious, I guess." Sakura replied. "How did you manage to come across them? And what do these guys look like?"

"Ichiraku Ramen—the day after the incident, during lunch time—we were all there, actually. When we were talking about the chakra surge and the possibility of Kyuubi or Naruto being involved, one of the guys reacted all of a sudden." Shikamaru replied. "They're around late teens, if not early twenties—our age, I suppose. Four guys, two of them had black hair and eyes, while the other two had different shades of brown hair. One of them had green eyes and the other, hazel. They were wearing regular civilian clothing. So far I've had Shino and Kiba helping me following them around town for the past several days, and today, Kakashi-san volunteered to help."

"Even Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, surprised.

"Kakashi-san and Pakkun are spying on the two with brown hair this morning, while Kiba's on the other two. They seem to know something about Kyuubi, and possibly about Naruto as well."

"Do you think they might be Akatsuki?" Hinata asked.

"It's possible. We know they haven't given up on looking for Naruto since he went missing two and a half years ago. It's like he was gone from the surface of the earth. Even Jiraiya-sama's spy network wasn't able to gather any information at all." Tenten added.

"Akatsuki work in pairs, though. If these people were in Akatsuki, or at least, related to the organization, then it would've been a really serious matter for four of their members to be here in Konoha." Hinata said again.

"What are the chances of them coming in here to investigate the chakra surge?" Sakura asked.

"Very little. Unless…they happened to be around Konoha during that night, and decided to investigate it the morning after—which is a possibility, since they're rather obsessed with Kyuubi—the only bijuu they haven't been able to extract so far. For all we know, that chakra surge was so powerful that it might have reached miles outside of Konoha." Shikamaru answered with his face scrunched in deep thought.

"But what would all these—" Tenten motioned her hands over the books and scrolls on the table, "have anything to do with Akatsuki and the bijuu, or the chakra surge?

Shikamaru furrowed his brows even further. "That one, I'm still having a hard time figuring out myself, Tenten." He paused. "But whatever it is, it's big—probably bigger than anything we've ever known before."

* * *

-------

Kakashi was keeping a close watch over the two suspicious travelers on top of the Hokage Mountain with Pakkun from within the thick foliage of the trees of the forest behind the Hokage heads, when all of a sudden they started talking in a weird foreign language. Not long after they started talking, suddenly they started arguing over something. _'Damn the language barrier! It's rather useless to spy on someone if you don't understand what they're talking about.'_ He noticed, however, that Pakkun was scrunching his face in thought.

"What is it?" Kakashi whispered to his favorite nin-dog summon.

"They're talking in an ancient language," answered Pakkun. "I didn't even know that there are still some _humans_ who could speak that language." Now that drew Kakashi's interest to the max.

"Human?" Kakashi asked while still keeping his single exposed eye to the two young men. "You mean to tell me that you understand what they're saying?"

"No. Like I told you, it's an ancient language. I thought it's lost forever."

Kakashi was disturbed by the revelation. The term _'humans'_ the summoned nin-dog used, did not go unnoticed by the ANBU Captain. Yes, Kakashi went back to the ANBU not long after Naruto's missing. Besides, most of his colleagues' students were in ANBU already. He really did not want to take any other genin team, ever again—at least not until they found Naruto, and possibly, bring Sasuke back. **Team 7**-turned-**Team Kakashi** was going to be the only one for him. Just as he finished that train of thoughts, things suddenly became more interesting. The two he was spying on were apparently a couple.

'_Ara…now that's an interesting development,'_ he thought as the two kissed. _'I wonder what Iruka is doing right now.'_

Just when he was about to relax and enjoy the show, the two separated from their hug and stood up from their sitting position on the Yondaime's head. They started to make their way back on the solid ground behind them. The taller of the two was helping the other one so he wouldn't accidentally fall off the cliff—or so Kakashi thought—when all of a sudden, the shorter one looked across the clearing, straight towards his eyes. Kakashi and Pakkun stiffened.

'_Shit! He knows I'm here? That's impossible! I'm hidden under the thickest foliage and made sure to compress my chakra to the lowest level. They're definitely not your regular tourists._

Kakashi was starting to reach towards his kunai holder while his left hand slowly reached up towards his hitai-ate, preparing to expose his single Sharingan eye. He noticed that they started conversing in that weird ancient language again and the other one also looked at him. To his surprise, the shorter one actually waved his hand and smiled at him while the latter looked amused.

Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan immediately. He blinked. All of a sudden, both of them were gone.

"What the…" He jumped down from his perch on the tree branch together with Pakkun and started running towards the spot where the two strangers were standing on before. Pakkun started sniffing around the area.

"They're gone," Pakkun said. Confusion was etched all over his features.

"Kuso!"

* * *

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A/N: Well that was a short chapter. As promised, now we've finally seen some ItaNaru fluff. There will be more of those in the future chapters, don't worry about it. Hehe. Hopefully you guys like this chapter as well. There are some more unveiled mysteries that connect to Naruto and Itachi's disappearance for the past two and a half years. Is Naruto still human or is he a demon? Hehe now that's a secret for now…Things will be explained in the next few chapters, so you guys don't have to worry about that either.

And yes, I will be overworking Shikamaru's brain throughout this story. That lazy-ass genius of a strategist had it coming, I tell ya! Haha. I love Shikamaru. Also, since Yuuri and Wolfram had a major role in the previous chapter, I decided to dedicate this one to Itachi and Naruto. Our two favorite mazoku kings are going to show up again soon. Sasuke and Team Hebi, and Akatsuki are going to make their appearance soon as well.

In case you were wondering about the timeline… Naruto-_tachi_ are 18-19 in this story, while Itachi is about 23-24 (he was 13 when he slaughtered his clan). Naruto went missing when he was about 15 and a half. Yuuri, Murata, and Kyuubi (Wolfram) are between 1000-2000 years old by now—they're ancient! hehe. Things are rather unclear when it concerns the two mazoku since time flows differently and rather randomly between the two worlds.


	5. Teaser for chapter 4

**Author's notes and rants**

Honestly, I'm rather disappointed with the amount of reviews I've been getting so far…or more to be exact, the lack thereof.

I've checked the amount of hits my story has been getting for the past week and did the math myself. If my calculations are correct, then there are at least 100 people reading Horizon (this is just based on the amount of hits I get for the last chapter only—chapter 4). The thing is, I've only got a total of 26 reviews (only 6 for chapter 4) so far. I mean, c'mon… at the very least, just drop me a sentence or two—tell me what you thought of the story so far—whether you liked it or if you disliked it. I'm getting rather discouraged looking at the lack of response.

I'm VERY GRATEFUL to those who have reviewed my story.

**Sesshyro**, **DarkRavie**, **frogger666**, **PirateCaptainBo**, **Gemstones**, **Firey-Moonlight**, **InfinitusNyx**, **MingShun**, **RuByMoOn17**…Thank you for your reviews and for liking my story so far. You guys are the best!

I write for fun and my own pleasure. But it's always good to know if other people are enjoying my stories. Even if you don't like the story, or if you feel that it's lacking something, drop me a note. I'll try to do my best to improve the quality of my writing.

Thanks for reading this, by the way.

Here's a little bonus for you guys: A small teaser segment for the next chapter to quench your thirst. Enjoy!

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**Teaser for chapter 4: Nagareboshi**

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* * *

"Ne, Itachi. Can I ask you something?"

"Hn."

"What really happened that night?"

Itachi froze. Of all the questions he thought Naruto would ask, he never expected that one. He understood what the blond jinchuuriki was asking about—the night of the Uchiha Massacre.

Itachi blinked. He looked down to Naruto's striking blue eyes. The moonlight reflected on those beautiful round eyes, giving it a slight silver tint.

"I killed the clan, Naruto-kun. It was a way to measure my limit." he answered. Itachi didn't know why he felt obligated to answer the question. It must've been those eyes—the eyes that felt like it could pierce your very soul if they looked straight at you.

"Liar," Naruto said softly. "There must've been a solid reason as to why it happened. I mean, you're good—but you're not _that_ good—yet. Sure, you were the youngest and possibly the most powerful ANBU captain at that time, but you were only thirteen. There were more than one hundred members in the Uchiha clan, Itachi." Naruto paused. He looked back up at the star clattered sky.

"According to the records, Sasuke went home around 7 pm that night. Assuming that you started right away after dark, even then, there were no way you could've single-handedly massacred the whole clan in less than a few hours, without alarming the whole village. The Hyuuga compound is only a few blocks away, you know. There's no way their Byakugan could not have at least _accidentally_ found out about what happened that night." Naruto paused again and looked back up towards the elder Uchiha.

"I may act like it most of the time, but I'm not stupid, Itachi. Tell me the truth, now. What really happened?" _'You let Sasuke go,'_ Naruto added in his thought silently.

Itachi sighed. He looked up to the sky to avoid those penetrating gaze, his hands bunched up in his pockets. He had left his tattered Akatsuki cloak in his room and wore the western-style clothes prepared by the palace maids instead. When he looked back down to his left, Naruto's eyes still had not left him.

Naruto, he noted, was wearing a similar navy blue version of his high collared, long-sleeved shirt, while he himself was wearing a dark red one. The buttons were hidden under decorative brown leather buckles and placed slanted diagonally from the neck down to the left waist. Straight down below that, starting from the waist to the hip on the side was zipped for easier wear. The blue looked almost darker in the dim light, but still managed to accentuate the blue of Naruto's eyes. Both of them wore black pants and low boots, also courtesy of the MaOu. They preferred wearing the less complicated, easier to move around, standard ninja attire, but decided otherwise. It took a while getting used to the weird clothing, but after it wasn't so bad after a while. They wouldn't want to attract even more attention than they already had in this new world, anyway. Who knows what kind of hidden dangers this seemed-to-be peaceful demon kingdom could have?

After a few minutes of staring into each other, Itachi gave up and sat down on the grass next to the blond-haired boy and started telling the young jinchuuriki what actually happened at the night of the Uchiha Massacre. To say that Naruto was surprised was an understatement.

That night on the grassy hill, their relationship changed forever.

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* * *

So there ya go! It's a small teaser about what happened during their stay at Shin-Makoku, if you haven't figured it out yet. I'll release the full chapter once I felt that I've gotten enough reviews.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE…hit that review button and drop me a note.

Arigatou gozaimasu, minna! Ja matta ne!


	6. Ch 4: Nagareboshi

**Horizon**

A Naruto & KKMaou fanfic by Jetede.

Standard disclaimer apply… We all know I don't own Naruto or Kyou Kara Maou.

**Warning**: Spoilers up to chapter 354 and even more spoilers up to the last episode of the KKMaou anime.

By the way, thank you for your wonderful reviews! I got at least 10 more reviews for that last teaser chapter alone. Probably I should do that more often, huh? Well, hopefully you'll be encouraged to write me some more after this chapter.

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* * *

_**Horizon**__…such a simple word with a huge meaning behind it._

_The human dictionary described __**horizon**__ as 'the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky'. While a __**sensible horizon**__ is 'the small circle of the celestial sphere whose plane is tangent to the earth at the position of a given observer, or the plane of such a circle,' a __**rational horizon**__ is 'the great circle of the celestial sphere whose plane passes through the center of the earth and is parallel to the sensible horizon of a given position, or the plane of such a circle. Sometimes it is also called the __**celestial horizon**_

_The horizon separates the earth from the sky. In reality, that's not its only job…the horizon does not only separate, but it is also the last line of defense between two worlds._

* * *

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**Chapter 4: Nagareboshi**

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* * *

_Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan immediately. He blinked. All of a sudden, both of them were gone._

"_What the…" He jumped down from his perch on the tree branch together with Pakkun and started running towards the spot where the two strangers were standing on before. Pakkun started sniffing around the area._

"_They're gone," Pakkun said. Confusion was etched all over his features._

"_Kuso!"_

-------

* * *

Itachi was troubled.

It had been a few weeks since the older Uchiha was brought into this weird other world—_Shin-Makoku_, Kyuubi said—the land of the _mazoku_, the demon tribes—also the _kitsune_'s homeland. Who would have thought that the demons could look so…human?

Of course, other than the fact that they could live five to ten times as long as regular humans do; or the fact that almost all of the mazoku, male or female, were drop dead gorgeous—everything else seemed so…normal. There were even regular humans living coexisting and peacefully side-by-side with these so called mazoku! But then again, these humans have different features compared to the ones in Elemental Continent. They have sharper features and bigger body built. They have the same colorful hair color and eyes with those back home, though.

And then there's the boy-_MaOu_—the sovereign Demon King. The people described him as a _soukoku_, someone who has both black hair and onyx eyes. Only a very powerful high ranking mazoku like the king has double black features. Of course, the boy-king was one of the only two people in this world who had both black hair and eyes. The only other one was the _Daikenjya_—the Great Sage, whose soul he heard had lived for more than four-freaking-thousand years! _Hmmph, Orochimaru would probably do anything to know the Daikenjya's secret recipe to his 'immortality'_.

But that's not exactly the point here. The thing is…he, Uchiha Itachi, also had both black hair and eyes! The result? They treated him like some kind of a god…not to mention, the gossiping maids and soldiers who kept trying to ogle him every time he passed through the hallways of the castle. He was suddenly reminded of the fan girls he had as a teenager back home. He shuddered inwardly. Don't these people know that he's just a mere human? Ugh! If they ogled his ass once more, he swore he's going to Tsukuyomi that person into the next week!

That's why Itachi chose to escape from the castle to take a walk on the hills outside. He needed some fresh air. He ignored the curious and surprised reaction from the patrolling soldiers on the castle walls as he jumped over the castle walls. It's a good thing that the MaOu had already informed the soldiers of their 'special' abilities, or he would probably cause some chaos amongst the guards, thinking that he was some kind of an intruder. A few minutes later, Itachi arrived at a grassy clearing on top of a high hill.

The night was peaceful and quiet like the usual typical Spring nights in Shin-Makoku. A figure could be seen sitting comfortably on top of the hill just outside the walls of the MaOu's _Blood Pledge Castle_. The figure's head was tilted up toward the sky, the light from the crescent moon and starry sky illuminating the serene expression on the effeminate face that belonged to a boy. His arms were loosely placed around his bent knees, one leg slightly more outstretched than the other. If one were to come across the scene, one would think he or she had seen an angel. Overall, the view was serene. There was a light tune floating in the air.

The boy was singing a slow tune.

This was what Itachi accidentally came across upon while he was trying to organize his thoughts that night.

_Sora wo mi agereba_

_Hoshitachi ga hora matataiteru_

_Konohoshi no hitotachi mitai ni_

_Samazamana hikari wo hanatte_

_Sononaka de boku mo_

_Hitokiwa kagayaitetainda_

_Me wo tojite kokoro ni chikau_

_Nagareboshi ni yume wo takushite_

A pause, then he continued singing the slow song. Itachi had a feeling that the song was supposed to be sung in a faster beat and more cheerful tone, though.

_Koko wa itsumo no kouen_

_Yakei ga mieru_

_Suberidai no ue_

_Mukashi kara boku no tokutouseki_

_Nagami ga areba kokoni kurunderu_

_Anokoro no mama yume no tochuu de_

_Imada kanaerarezu ni irun desu_

_Mosikashite koko ga mou shuuten_

_Nante yowane wo haite_

_Shimai souna hi mo aru_

_Demo sonotanbi ni omoidasu_

_Nagareboshi wo sagashita anohoshizora_

_Chiisanakoro no negaigoto wa_

_Ima mukashi wo kawaranai mama_

Another pause, and the boy returned to the first verse of the tune he's singing and closed his eyes.

_Sora wo mi agereba_

_Hoshitachi ga hora matataiteru_

_Konohoshi no hitotachi mitai ni_

_Samazamana hikari wo hanatte_

_Sononaka de boku mo_

_Hitokiwa kagayaitetainda_

_Me wo tojite kokoro ni chikau_

_Nagareboshi ni yume wo takushite_

"That was beautiful."

The boy jumped on his seat and looked back from his shoulder, surprised with the sudden comment. It was Naruto, Itachi realized.

"Itachi," he whispered. "What are you doing here?"

Itachi blinked. Who would've thought that Naruto could sing? He had such a beautiful, still developing voice too. Of course, he's what—fifteen, barely sixteen years old. Itachi could tell that once it's fully developed, Naruto would most likely possess an angelic _Tenor_ voice.

'_His father had more of a baritone voice, though. But then again, Naruto's built is smaller and more effeminate compared to him.'_

He stayed silent, never answering the question and strolled up to the golden-haired boy. He stood just a bit behind and to the right of Naruto's sitting figure.

"I can't sleep," Naruto continued talking. He's used to the silent treatment of an Uchiha—being friends with Sasuke for a long time—so he didn't really expect an answer out of the older Uchiha. They are brothers after all. "Ne, Itachi. Can I ask you something?"

"Hn."

"What really happened that night?"

Itachi froze. Of all the questions he thought Naruto would ask, he never expected that one. He understood what the blond jinchuuriki was asking about—the night of the Uchiha Massacre.

Itachi blinked. He looked down to Naruto's striking blue eyes. The moonlight reflected on those beautiful round eyes, giving it a slight silver tint.

"I killed the clan, Naruto-kun. It was a way to measure my limit." he answered. Itachi didn't know why he felt obligated to answer the question. It must've been those eyes—the eyes that felt like it could pierce your very soul if he looked straight at you.

"Liar," Naruto said softly. "There must've been a solid reason as to why it happened. I mean, you're good—but you're not _**that**_ good—"

'—_yet'_.

"Sure, you were the youngest and possibly the most powerful ANBU captain at that time, but you were only thirteen. There were more than one hundred members in the Uchiha clan, Itachi." Naruto paused. He looked back up at the star clattered sky.

"According to the records, Sasuke went home around 7 pm that night. Assuming that you started right away after dark, even then, there were no way you could've single-handedly massacred the whole clan in just one hour without alarming the whole village. The Hyuuga compound is only a few blocks away, you know. There's no way their Byakugan could not have at least _accidentally_ found out about what happened that night." Naruto paused again and looked back up towards the elder Uchiha.

"I may act like it most of the time, but I'm not stupid, Itachi. Tell me the truth, now. What really happened?" _'Besides, you let Sasuke go,'_ Naruto added in his thought silently.

Itachi sighed. He looked up to the sky to avoid those penetrating gaze, his hands bunched up in his pockets. The star constellation arrangement was different from the ones on Earth. The weather was also quite cool there—at least cooler than what he was used to back home. He had left his tattered Akatsuki cloak in his room and wore the western-style clothes prepared by the palace maids instead. When he looked back down to his left, Naruto's eyes still had not left him.

Naruto, he noted, was wearing a similar navy blue version of his high collared, long-sleeved shirt, while he himself was wearing a dark red one. The buttons were hidden under decorative brown leather buckles and placed slanted diagonally from the neck down to the left waist. Straight down below that, starting from the waist to the hip on the side was zipped for easier wear. The blue looked almost darker in the dim light, but still managed to accentuate the blue of Naruto's eyes. Both of them wore black pants and low boots, also courtesy of the MaOu. They preferred wearing the less complicated, easier to move around, standard ninja attire—but decided otherwise. It took a while getting used to the weird clothing, but it wasn't so bad after a while. They wouldn't have wanted to attract even more attention than they already have in this new world, anyway. Who knows what kind of hidden dangers this seemed-to-be peaceful demon kingdom could have?

After a few minutes of staring into each other, Itachi gave up and sat down on the grass next to the blond-haired boy and started telling the young jinchuuriki what actually happened at the night of the Uchiha Massacre. To say that Naruto was surprised was an understatement.

That night on the grassy hill, their relationship changed forever.

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* * *

A/N: You don't think I would've released the secrets behind the Uchiha Massacre to you readers that easily, do you? evil cackle Kukukuku… you would have to wait a bit more before I uncovered that. It's one of the most crucial pieces that shape the story, you see. So you'll just have to be patient. It won't be as interesting if I gave out all the secrets in one go. Besides, I haven't been enough reviews so far… sobs

So…unless you started writing me those reviews, I'll keep torturing you guys with these kinds of half-uncovered secrets, MUAHAHAHA! I wanted to write some more after the 'flashback' scene, but decided that I should probably wait. It was better to end this chapter there so I could focus on 'present day' Konoha in the next one, so you'll have to do with this short chapter.

We've basically just gone through a small part of Itachi's psyche—or at least his thoughts and rants, hehe. I really couldn't resist doing that—I mean, I know Itachi is a silent and stoic character, but that doesn't mean he stops thinking, right? Hopefully the personality I've given to the older Uchiha brother is not too ooc. We've seen from the latest manga (how he talks more to Kisame when they got the Gobi jinchuuriki) and anime episode (his 'out loud' thoughts about Naruto's improvement and how he smiled at the end—that was hot by the way…) that there's something much deeper hidden behind that stoic façade.

* * *

The song is taken from the Ending Theme of Naruto Shippudden: Shooting Star, by HOME MADE. It's the perfect theme song for this fanfic, so I borrowed it! Here's the translation in case you're interested…I copied it directly from the translated anime done by Dattebayo (got it from narutocentral)—so it's not mine.

When I look at the sky

I see all the stars twinkling

They're like the people of this planet

All emitting different types of light.

I want to stand out in that crowd

And shine brighter than everyone else

I close my eyes and swear

I entrust my dream to a shooting star.

This is the park I always go to

I can watch the night scenery

from the slide

Since long ago, it's been my own special seat

Whenever I have troubles, I always come here.

Ever since that time, I've been chasing my dream

Even now, it hasn't come true

Maybe this is the end

What a weak voice I speak in

There are days when I feel bitter about it.

But then I'll remember

Looking for the shooting star in that starry sky

The wish that I made when I was small

Hasn't changed with the passage of time

When I look at the sky

I see all the stars twinkling

They're like the people of this planet

All emitting different types of light.

I want to stand out in that crowd

And shine brighter than everyone else

I close my eyes and swear

I entrust my dream to a shooting star.


	7. Ch 5: Revealed Identities

**Horizon**

A Naruto & KKMaou fanfic by Jetede.

Standard disclaimers apply… We all know I don't own Naruto or Kyou Kara Maou.

* * *

_Sora wo mi agereba  
Hoshitachi ga hora matataiteru  
Konohoshi no hitotachi mitai ni  
Samazamana hikari wo hanatte_

_Sononaka de boku mo  
Hitokiwa kagayaitetainda  
Me wo tojite kokoro ni chikau  
Nagareboshi ni yume wo takushite_

* * *

**Chapter 5: Revealed Identities**

* * *

_After a few minutes of staring into each other, Itachi gave up and sat down on the grass next to the blond-haired boy and started telling the young jinchuuriki what actually happened at the night of the Uchiha Massacre. To say that Naruto was surprised was an understatement. _

_That night on the grassy hill, their relationship changed forever._

* * *

"Aha haha ha… Ne, ne, Icchan, did you see Kakashi-sensei's face? That was hilarious!" 

Itachi could only shake his head in disbelief on what Naruto had done just a few minutes earlier. The two of them had teleported away using _**shunshin no jutsu**_ from the Hokage Monument and ended up in a small, dark alley on the outskirts of the town's marketplace.

"You do realize that they're going to be even more suspicious of us now, right Naru?" _'And Kakashi-senpai is most likely frantically trying to hunt our asses down with his __**Doton: Tsuiga no jutsu**__ right at this very moment. His nin-dog summons are the best trackers in Fire country.'_

Naruto shrugged with the big grin still pasted on his expression. "Mahh, _daijoubu_, _daijoubu_… We're going to Tsunade-no-_baachan_'s office soon anyway." His mischievous grin grew wider. "But you know, that's not going to be fun if we just revealed ourselves like that. Too easy! We should let them sweat a bit more, don't you think so?"

Itachi suddenly felt a chill on back of his neck. Whatever Naruto's planning, it could not be good for Konoha. _'How the hell did I ever fall with this lil prankster of a fox, anyway?'_ He almost groaned as he saw Naruto's grin turned even more sinister and mischievous.

"So…what do you say we give Konoha a big surprise, eh?" Naruto proceeded out of the dark alley as he continued to cackle maniacally. Itachi shook his head again and sighed audibly. Konoha won't know what hits them.

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* * *

The Godaime Hokage was sitting behind her desk in her office that morning. She was slumped tiredly on the padded seat, her shoulders hunched and her arms were on the table, supporting her body. Her mind was worrying over a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed missing-nin who she had unofficially adopted as her younger brother years ago. 

"Naruto…it's been almost 3 years. Where the hell are you, brat?" Tsunade sighed. "I hope you're alright out there."

For the past two and a half years Tsunade had been sending out the Konoha Elite Twelve and their jounin instructors after her otouto. Jiraiya the Gama-_sennin_ (Toad Hermit) was also utilizing his spy network all over the Elemental Continent to the max in order to find his missing second apprentice. They had almost lost all hope in finding the Yondaime Hokage's legacy when they had not been able to find Naruto after the first six months he went missing, thinking that the young blond was already d—

Tsunade sighed again. When Jiraiya's spy network had confirmed that the Akatsuki was still searching high and low for the last jinchuuriki, both of the remaining Sannins were relieved since that meant that the Kyuubi had not been extracted from within Naruto, and that Naruto was still alive somewhere. They were disturbed, though, when they found out that Uchiha Itachi had also gone missing around the same time as Naruto. Somehow their disappearance was related to each other. The question is, **how**? Was Itachi responsible for Naruto's disappearance? What reason would the elder Uchiha has for kidnapping him even if he did, though? Jiraiya had confirmed that the Akatsuki was pissed off—did Itachi leave Akatsuki and somehow brought Naruto with him?

The Godaime Hokage leaned back to her reclining chair and turned it around so it faced the windows behind her. Outside, the warm morning sun was shining down on Konohagakure no Sato, casting long shadows between buildings on the ground. Far in the background, the Hokage Monument was covered in mist and fog. Wait a sec—

"That's weird. Usually the fog lifts up with the first rays of the sun during Autumn. The weather must've been cooler than usual this morning," Tsunade whispered to herself. She frowned a minute later. Somehow, something about that mist did not feel right to her. _'Could it be a jutsu? Nah, I'm just too paranoid this morning.'_

No one could really blame her for being paranoid, though—especially after the chakra wave incident several nights before. The village was still on full alert and the guards were doubled in order to protect the village from any kinds of possible attack. Whoever was causing the chakra surge was definitely inside the walls of Konoha and had succeeded in infiltrating the village without even a hint of a trace other than that few seconds.

"Damn it. I'm too old for this shit. I can't even begin to comprehend how Sarutobi-sensei managed to survive his second seating as Hokage for twelve years," complained the Slug Sannin.

Tsunade was still in the middle of her silent rant when there was a knock on her door. She straightened herself and fixed her robes before she said, "Enter."

"Hokage-sama."

"Tsunade-shisou."

"How's the research mission, Shikamaru, Sakura?"

"Mendokusei. I asked the help of Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten to gather the information on the texts. We've discovered that the books and scrolls contain information on the history of the Elemental Continents and the different Hidden Villages, including the five major nations and the other minor villages. We've also found books that record myths and legends of the world, including those of the bijuus," explained Shikamaru.

"Tsunade-shisou, there are also texts written in one of the old civilization language, English. Apparently these four travelers are proficient in our basic language, which is based on what the old civilization called Japanese, I believe—and also in English. The nins who have been spying on them have also reported them speaking in a weird language." Sakura added.

"Weird language?" Tsunade frowned.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru answered. "I heard them speaking in what seemed to be gibberish. It's nothing like I've ever heard before. The fact that they know these three different suggests that they may be traveling scholars—"

"Yet you don't believe they are," interrupted Tsunade.

"They're simply too suspicious to be mere traveling scholars, especially since there's no record of them entering or exiting the gates. We've checked the records up to the past thirty days. None of the chuunin guards who had patrol and guard shifts for the last month remember ever seeing these four." Shikamaru said. "Kiba, Shino and Sai, however, told me that so far they haven't made any other suspicious movement during their stay in Konoha, other than the tour around the village, some shopping, and the frequent visits to the library. Basically, they seem to be only having fun and enjoying themselves in Konoha."

"That does sound suspicious." Tsunade furrowed her brows further and leaned back on her chair. "Kakashi is the one spying on them right now?"

"Hai, shishou. Kakashi-sensei was last reported following two of them. Kiba hasn't reported anything yet—he's following the other two with Akamaru as we speak. We were hoping that Both Pakkun and Akamaru could help us identify these people—if they were Akatsuki or not."

At that moment, Kakashi suddenly appeared inside the room from within a plume of smoke—the telltale of him using the **shunsin no jutsu** (body flicker technique).

"Hokage-sama."

"Kakashi-sensei, weren't you supposed to be following the tourists?"

"That's what I'm here for, Sakura." The ANBU captain turned his one visible eye toward Tsunade. "Hokage-sama, I lost the travelers."

"You WHAT?" Tsunade shouted as she stood up abruptly from her seat and slammed her hands on the table. Some of the organized stacks of papers and scrolls were disturbed out of their position and fell around the floor.

"Pakkun and I were watching them on top of the Hokage Monument this morning. Somehow they knew I was there and actually managed to pinpoint my hiding spot. One of them actually waved at me before they both disappeared."

"What do you mean disappeared?"

"I mean it literally, Tsunade-sama. They just poof-ed out of the area without a single trace. I tried tracking them with my nin-dogs for a few hours all around the village to no avail. Kiba and Akamaru haven't seen anything out of the ordinary with the other two. Apparently my subjects have not met with their partners ever since."

Tsunade sighed for the n-th time that morning and returned to her seat.

"There's something else, Hokage-sama," Kakashi continued. "Pakkun said something rather disturbing to me before they disappeared. The language these foreigners were speaking in—Pakkun said that it's some sort of an ancient language that apparently no humans are supposed to know—or at least, not anymore since a long time."

Tsunade, Shikamaru and Sakura were all shocked with this new information. An ancient language that no one knows about? These people seem to be more dangerous than they initially thought.

"Kakashi-san, are you saying that these foreigners aren't human?"

"I honestly don't know, Hokage-sama. Pakkun didn't understand the language, only that he recognized it as a lost ancient language." Shikamaru furrowed his brows and crouched down as he put his thumbs and forefingers together in his usual thinking pose. Recognizing the genius strategist at work, Tsunade gave him several minutes to process the information.

Not a few minutes after that though, the door to the Hokage office burst open; a frantic chuunin came in breathless.

"Hokage…sama." _pants_ "There are trouble all around the village." Another pause as he took a breath to calm himself down. "Traps that range from simple paint bombs all the way to sticky honey and rotten eggs were set off all around the village. Someone's been doing a major prank all over the village. It's a chaos out there. Even the ANBU headquarters did not go unscathed. Investigations stated that this seemed to be the work of the same person."

The Godaime groaned audibly as she heard the news. "Have you checked Konohamaru?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. When we first found out about the traps, we all thought that it might have been the work of Konohamaru-san, but he has a solid alibi—he's not even within Konoha walls at this time." The chuunin paused in his report. "Also, the Hokage Monument was desecrated." He pointed outside the window where they know could see the painted heads of the Hokages. They were immediately reminded of Naruto when they saw the monument. Everything about the 'artwork' shouted "NARUTO" all over it—especially since there was one word written on the Godaime's forehead: _'Tsunade-baba'_ and that the there were wrinkles drawn on the face.

Tsunade twitched and broke a pen she found on her desk. She sent the chuunin to get some nins to investigate around the Hokage Monument itself. The chuunin was more than happy to comply—anything is better than facing the wrath of the Godaime Hokage straight up.

"First it was the chakra wave, then the mysterious foreigners, and now, THIS?!" Tsunade exclaimed. "What the fuck is going on?!" Kakashi, Sakura and Shikamaru were speechless to hear the Hokage swearing. Suddenly they heard laughter from outside the window.

'_What the…'_

Kakashi went to the window and opened it, a kunai readied in hand while his other raised in front of his masked face in the universal gesture of silence. Sakura and Shikamaru nodded and prepared their own weapons. Tsunade started to mold some chakra on her fist as she slowly backed away from her seat by the window, yet still close by.

The laughter had not subsided and became louder as the window was opened. Kakashi threw his kunai out of the window. The kunai hit, making a 'thwack' sound.

'_Wait a sec—that's not the sound of a kunai hitting on flesh.'_ All of a sudden there were smoke outside the window and the sound of wood falling on roof.

'_Kawarimi!'_ Sakura thought.

"_Moou…Hatake-san no hidoi_. You almost hit me there," a voice suddenly stated from behind Kakashi.

'_He's fast! I didn't even sense him coming into the room!'_ were the collective thoughts of all three Konoha nins as they abruptly turned around to face the unknown intruder.

"Who the hell are you?" Tsunade asked. There, standing in the middle of her office, right in front of Kakashi was a cloaked figure. They could see the brown color of his eyes reflected from within the hood he was wearing. _'—and where the hell are my ANBU guards?'_

"If you're wondering where your ANBU guards are, Hokage-sama, you don't have to worry. They've only been temporarily disabled—no harm done." Another cloaked figure stated from the far left side of the room. "The four hidden in the ceiling are currently asleep, while the other two outside the door are unconscious. I've also put up a silencing barrier around the room, so don't bother with trying to call your other ANBU guards. We're not here to hurt anybody."

'_What the…'_ Kakashi was shocked. He didn't even sense the other one inside the room until he spoke. Tsunade had similar thoughts on her mind. All of them had come to the same conclusion: these two must've been their missing foreigners that Kakashi had been spying on earlier.

"Tch. You're really mendokusei, you know that, _Nacchan _and_ Icchan, _isn't it?" Shikamaru said sarcastically while the figure grinned. He had his hands inside his pocket and his shoulders hunched in what seemed to be a relaxed lazy pose, however quietly the shadow user was preparing to strike the two intruders with his _kagemane no jutsu_ if they were deemed as threats.

'_Heh, figures. Shikamaru probably has already guessed who I am—or at least is having his suspicions on my real identity. I wonder if he knew it's Itachi with me, though.'_ Naruto thought as he looked at the still henged Itachi from the corner of his eyes. _'Leave it to the genius strategist to find out my identity so fast.'_

"I'll ask this once more, who the hell are you guys, and what do you want?" Tsunade asked. She was pissed off. These two strangers managed to infiltrate her office without breaking a sweat, and even managed to disable six ANBU guards without anyone noticing.

"Maa…don't be so angry, Tsunade-sama. We really mean you no harm. We're here just here to talk." Naruto said as he waved his hands in front of him dismissively.

"You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the chakra wave several nights ago, now, would you?" Shikamaru asked in his usual bored tone.

"Ah…that? That wasn't me but my other partner's doing, hehe…" Naruto said sheepishly. "But we're not here for that—"

"And what about the traps all around town? You said you're not here to hurt anyone, yet the villagers could be hurt from the traps you set off outside," Sakura cut in.

"They're just merely harmless joke, I assure you, Haruno-san," Replied Naruto. "But anyway, we need to have a talk with your Hokage privately here. So, Icchan, could you please?"

Before anyone could react, Kakashi, Sakura and Shikamaru were suddenly rendered unconscious by Itachi's hidden sharingan. The three Elites fell down on the floor almost immediately.

"What the—what did you do to my subordinates?" Tsunade was livid.

"Don't worry, Tsunade-no-baachan. They're merely unconscious. Icchan didn't hurt them or anything, I promise."

Tsunade reacted immediately to the 'baachan' comment. She reached her paper weight on the table and flung it across the room towards the still cloaked Naruto. "Who the hell are you calling old hag!?" Naruto eep-ed and ducked away from the onslaught.

"Cheh, Tsunade-baba! What the hell was that for? You're still as violent as ever!" complained Naruto.

"…Naruto?"

Naruto grinned and took off the hood of his cape. He removed his special henge with a wave of his hand after that, revealing his original spiky, bright blond hair and striking blue eyes.

"In the flesh, baachan! Tadaima!"

* * *

TBC

* * *

**A/N**: Teehee…I just had to do that "I'm back!prank" thingie with Naruto. I couldn't resist. What do you think about Naruto's reunion with Tsunade so far? I'm evil for stopping this chapter at that cliffhanger, aren't I:P Sorry, but I also had to do that. The explanations as to what actually happened 2.5 years ago will be revealed in the next chapter! If you want me to publish the chapter soon, REVIEW!

* * *

**Sannin** and **Sennin**…now that's 2 words that has confused people in the hundreds of different Naruto fics I've read until now. Let me make it clear for you guys. 

**Sannin** is an unofficial title given to Sandaime Hokage's 3 students: Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru. The title granted them (unofficially) unlimited free travel rights across the continent without being branded as a missing-nin, even if they don't make it back to Konoha. The word sannin basically means 3 ninjas, and they're strength and power are believed to be Kage level—thus the longer title of _Densetsu no Sannin_, or the Legendary Three Ninjas.

We know that Tsunade left Konoha and did not want to have anything to do with Konoha after the death of her biological younger brother and fiancée, and resorted to drinking and gambling afterwards—before our favorite lil blond fox-boy convinced her to take the Hokage title. She's the master summoner for the slugs and the best medic nin in the world.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, was traveling all over the continent on a long-term reconnaissance mission—spying on all the different hidden villages with the help of his spy network, and also on potential rogue organizations that could be potential threat to Konoha (like the Akatsuki). When he said he was on a mission, gathering information, it could be taken into 2 different meanings: first, he was actually doing real info gathering for Konoha, and the second (and our favorite) was peeking on girls in bath houses, gathering a different kind of info for his perverted porn Icha Icha series. Jiraiya is quite a complex character. I myself don't think that he's as shallow as he showed himself to be—remember…underneath the underneath :D. Oh, and Naruto calls him _Ero-sennin_ (perverted hermit) for his peeking hobby.

Finally, Orochimaru, our favorite villain…well, I don't think I need to explain who or what he is to you guys. Basically he's a pedophilic snake-loving bastard of a traitor, who literally was also a snake himself after his 'successful' pursue of immortality. He's also the master summoner for the snakes. We know he was jealous of Yondaime Hokage for getting the Hokage title instead of him. A lot of fans theorized that the reason that Kyuubi went on a rampage in Konoha was because Orochimaru summoned the bijuu as revenge. Who knows if it's true or not…

The word **Sennin**, on the other hand, means hermit. Jiraiya proclaimed himself as a Gama-Sennin, or a Toad Hermit, for being the official master holder of the Toad summon contract. I've never heard Tsunade and Orochimaru, though.

Hopefully this clears out the confusion!


	8. Ch 6: Return of the Fox I

A/N: Wew! I haven't updated in sooooo long, huh? Well, here you go. Rather short compared to my earlier chapters coz the chapter is separated into 2 parts. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 6: Return of the Fox I**

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"Wha… what… Naruto?"

"Yo, Baa-chan!" A tick appeared on Tsunade's forehead.

"Don't you 'baa-chan' me, you brat," she said as she drew up her right fist and hit Naruto's head 'til he catapulted down to the floor.

"_Ite-yo_, Tsunade-baba!" [That hurt, Tsunade-old hag

"Where the hell have you been for the past two and a half years, huh?! Haven't you ever thought for a second that I—we might've been worried about you, gaki!?"

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-baa-chan," Naruto smiled a sad, bittersweet smile. "There's a perfectly good reason as to why I only came back after so long." He scratched his right cheek sheepishly and added in a mumble, "Well, it's also mainly Yuuri's and Ken's fault though."

"What was that, brat?"

"Oh, nothing, aha-ha-ha…"

"And who the hell is this, gaki? You've been smuggling illegal 'tourists' inside Konoha, now? You're wearing a henge, aren't you," added Tsunade toward the still henge-d Itachi. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "It's different from the normal henge, too."

"Err… see, there's also another perfect reason as to why _Icchan_ here is still henge-d, baa-chan. I promise that none of my partners is a threat to Konoha and Hi no Kuni. I beg you to please trust me on this, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes further to that statement_. 'Naruto's grown. The brat I knew from the past wouldn't beg nor would he call me Tsunade-sama. But still, this _Icchan_ guy is suspicious… and the fact that his name is equivalent to a shortened version of a nickname for 'Itachi' makes me nervous.'_

"Fine, brat. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now. One wrong move from any of your partners, and I'll show you why people called me the legendary Sannin," answered Tsunade.

Naruto sweat-dropped at that. _'And I don't doubt that she's one-hundred percent serious with that statement. Damn, baa-chan, you're definitely worth the title of Hokage,'_ thought Naruto.

"Actually I would've been worried if you didn't threaten me with that statement, baa-chan. Konoha always comes first, right?" Naruto grinned. "And I see that you've tightened security around here nowadays, eh?"

"Well, apparently it's still not enough if you managed to enter the village without anybody knowing about it. If not for that massive chakra explosion several days ago, no one would've known about the breach of security. You need to work harder on your chakra compression, brat."

"Hey, that wasn't me you old hag. Geez, for a Sannin, you're supposed to be smart and powerful, yet you could be so silly sometimes. Tell me, baa-chan, have you even felt my chakra at all for the last couple of days? Or perhaps, even now?"

Tsunade's eyes widened at that remark. _'The gaki's right! I haven't felt anything from him, and he's standing right in front of me.'_

"Wha… but how? Even animals and other living beings generate chakra, even if for a miniscule amount. But I can't literally feel anything from you. It's as if you're not even alive."

'_That must've been how they were able to disable my bodyguards earlier and how they managed to install all those prank traps all around the village without being detected. Come to think of it, I can't feel his partner's chakra as well. He's so quiet there. If not for the fact that I can see him standing there, I wouldn't have been able to tell that there's someone else in here.'_

Naruto grinned. "Tee hee, trade secrets, baa-chan. _Hi-mi-tsu_!" [_se-cret!_ Tsunade developed another tick on her forehead on that statement.

'_Kono gaki…'_[_This brat…_

"You should blame that on Yuuri-_heika_. That chakra explosion was pure him. He's the only one with the special transport ability, anyway," added Naruto airily. Tsunade narrowed her eyes at that sentence.

Itachi, meanwhile, was laughing on the inside. It's amazing how Naruto could be so laid back and almost bordering on rude with the Godaime Hokage. _'It's funny how Naruto loves to mess around with people's head nowadays, though. Seriously, 'Yuuri-heika' Naru-chan?'_ Itachi looked towards the Hokage discretely. _'Oh yeah, she's definitely worried about that respectful title.'_

Meanwhile, Tsunade was thinking around the same lines. _'Yuuri-heika? His other "partner"? Who could he be? For Naruto to refer him with such respect… I can count on one hand the amount Naruto ever calls anyone with the suffix "sama". Not even Sarutobi-sensei was called that. This is rather worrying.'_

"You're starting on blaming other people now, Naru-chan?" a voice suddenly asked from behind Tsunade. Tsunade, half in reflect, half in surprise, turned her body to face behind her so fast that it's amazing she didn't suffer a backlash from the action. Her arms were raised and legs spread out in a defensive position in a fraction of a second. She was literally seconds away from activating her chakra scalpel.

"What the…" _'Who the hell… I didn't sense him at all!'_

"Phew, baa-chan," whistled Naruto. "Nice reflects!"

Naruto then faced Yuuri and mockingly bowed to him—not that Tsunade knew that he didn't mean the gesture at all, "Yuuri-heika," then he turned slightly to the left and faced an empty patch of wall, "Daikenjya-sama." Suddenly the air around the area rippled and Murata appeared out of the area—it was as if the air by that corner of the Hokage office was made out of water. As soon as Murata fully materialized, the ripple dissolved back to normal—leaving nothing that indicates any change to the area at all. Meanwhile, Tsunade was left gaping and wide-eyed at the demonstration of power these two new presences displayed.

Both Yuuri and Murata caught on quick on Naruto's latest prank with just a slight upturn of their eyebrows and a regal nod towards Naruto. Itachi followed Naruto's lead and pretended to bow respectfully towards the two mazoku kings as well. Tsunade was getting even more nervous now. Like on Naruto and Itachi, she couldn't feel anything out of the two new young men, yet deep down she knew that these two were not to be messed around with. Their very presence was a contradictory in itself. One can't sense their chakra at all, but can still feel some kind of a hidden strength from watching their regal, confident stance and expression.

'_And those eyes – those are not the eyes of young men. They're so deep and black that one could drown in them. Who are these people? Somehow the title "Daikenjya fits the second person. Great Sage, huh? Now where have I heard that title before?'_

"Yuuri-heika, allow me to introduce you to Tsunade-sama, Konohagakure no Godaime Hokage," Naruto said. Itachi's lips almost twitched into a smile at Naruto's words. He refrained from the action since he knew that it's important to do the introductions formally, though.

"Tsunade-sama, may I present to you, Shibuya Yuuri, the 27th MaOu of Shin-Makoku," Naruto continued with an open palm hand gesture towards Yuuri. He then turned towards Murata, "and also, Murata Ken, the Daikenjya-sama of Shin-Makoku, advisor to the king."

"…Ma…Ou…?" Tsunade stuttered. Her eyes bulged in surprise while her lips opening and closing in imitation of a fish.

"Haii, baa-chan… THE Demon King," confirmed Naruto with a serious look.

It took Tsunade's brain one whole minute before it was able to process Naruto's words and realized that Naruto was not joking about this—that this was not another one of his pranks (she was half correct about the whole pranking issue, but then again, Naruto was serious about Yuuri's and Ken's identity).

It took another whole minute for her to process the fact that Naruto emphasized on the words 'THE Demon King' earlier, which meant that this 'young' man in front of her, who looked totally human physically, was THE king of all Demons, which also meant that he was technically higher in position than the Kyuubi. Of course she realized afterwards why Naruto referred the MaOu with such respect (she still didn't know that Naruto and Yuuri were on friendly terms and that he always referred Yuuri by his given name, without any suffix attached).

While Tsunade's brain was working, Itachi was standing amused in his own corner of the office. Yuuri and Ken were used to this kind of reaction; therefore they stayed quiet with kind smiles pasted on their faces while they let the Hokage to pull her thoughts together.

"I assure you, Tsunade-sama, that Naruto was not joking. He was telling the truth." Yuuri's calm voice rang in the quiet office. If Tsunade was doubtful about the young man's identity before, she was reassured after she heard his voice. The MaOu's voice was clear and underlined with a quiet power underneath. She didn't doubt that he was someone of authority.

Tsunade was a professional, and she was also a Sannin and the Hokage, therefore after the two minutes were up, she was able to function back to normal again. "I believe you, Yuuri-sama. I'm not saying that Naruto's a liar at all. It's just that this is a lot to take, you understand," replied Tsunade. Yuuri smiled and nodded to her in encouragement. "For all of my life, the only demons in Elemental Countries were the 9 _bijuus_ with Kyuubi no Kitsune as the most powerful of them all. And now suddenly Naruto, who's also the holder of the Kyuubi, suddenly came back and introduced a Demon King—someone who's, to my assumption, more powerful than the Kyuubi. Surely you understand how it looks like from my point of view." Yuuri didn't respond to that and just kept his warm smile towards the Godaime.

Itachi and Naruto were quite amazed with how calm and how easily she was taking the fact of their friends' identities. As the Hokage, and as someone who had witnessed the destruction caused by the Kyuubi, it was understandable if she had taken Yuuri's existence as a threat to Konoha, and probably also, the whole Elemental Continent. Yet she stayed calm in front of him, just because of Naruto's promise that his partners were not a threat towards Konoha. Naruto's respect towards Tsunade just went up another notch, so did Itachi's discretely.

Tsunade took a few deep breaths and went back behind her desk. She took a seat on her chair and got comfortable, offered the guest chairs to the 4 male before her, and nodded to Naruto. "Okay brat, start explaining from the beginning. I want to know what happened after the mission two and a half years ago, where you've been so far, and how you met with the MaOu and the Daikenjya, up to the point you returned to Konoha."

"Well, baa-chan, you remember the mission to find Itachi, and thus in extension, Sasuke. Somewhat along the way, I was separated from the team. It was during this time that I encountered Itachi alone…"

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Next chapter: **Return of the Fox, part II**: What actually happened 2.5 years earlier

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	9. Ch 6B: Return of the Fox II

**A/N: MANGA SPOILER WARNING! **

**DON'T READ THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILER FROM CHAPTER 366-385 OF THE NARUTO MANGA! **

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"Well, baa-chan, you remember the mission to find Itachi, and thus in extension, Sasuke. Somewhat along the way, I was separated from the team. It was during this time that I encountered Itachi alone…"

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**Chapter 6b: Return of the Fox II**

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2.5 years earlier

"Show yourself, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto appeared from behind the tree about 10 meters in front of Itachi. "You're here for the Kyuubi."

"No, I just want to talk to you," Itachi replied with his usual neutral expression. Suddenly two kage bunshins burst out of their hiding spots from behind the thick branches, preparing to attack Itachi from the back. In a split second Itachi reacted and flicked two kunais out of his wrist bracers and destroyed the kage bunshins without breaking a sweat.

"Like I'm gonna fall for that," exclaimed Naruto with a fierce expression. "What's your real reason to confront me here like this?"

"You've grown. You learn a little about fighting the sharingan," Itachi ignored Naruto's question and commented instead. "You must know what to do when you're alone. Why aren't you running?"

To Itachi's surprise, Naruto smiled and relaxed his pose. "Why should I? Didn't you mention that you're here just to talk? Where's your blue sushi retainer, by the way?" replied Naruto. Itachi blinked at Naruto's nonchalance and Naruto's description of Kisame. "Besides, with me, my numbers can be anywhere from 1 to 1000, so I'm not worried. Also, I can't afford to run this time. You're the key for me to find Sasuke."

Itachi paused before replying, "What is it about my brother… that makes you care for him so much?"

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows again and answered in a fierce tone, "Because he's like a brother to me… more of a brother to me than he was to you!"

Itachi was surprised with Naruto's answer and was silent for a second before he let out a small ironic smirk. _'Hn. Foolish little brother, you don't know how lucky you were to have such a loyal friend like Naruto. Yondaime no isan, indeed. Ne, Minato-sensei, your son and legacy has grown to be such a wonderful character. You must've been very proud of him, wherever you are.'_ Even while thinking those lines, Itachi was prepared to counter whatever attacks Naruto was planning on.

He raised his hands and trapped Naruto in a genjutsu even before Naruto could charge an attack towards him. To Naruto's eyes, it seemed as if Itachi body dissolved into hundreds of black crows right at the moment he charged at him. The next moment Naruto opened his eyes, he found himself crouching on the ground panting from the effects of Itachi's genjutsu.

"I'll say it once more. I only wish to talk to you, Naruto-kun."

"D-Damn it. W-Why? You're after me, aren't you? Then fight me now!"

Itachi paused for a second as if in thought, and then he said, "It seems I have to leave you for now. There's something important I have to take care of. I'll see you later, Naruto-kun." Itachi's body dissolved into birds again, just like he did in his genjutsu.

'_Itachi's version of a kage-bunshin…cheh,'_ scoffed Naruto as he narrowed his eyes in thought. _'What was he playing at? He said he only wanted to talk to me… I thought as an Akatsuki member, his mission is to capture me so they can extract the Kyuubi. He wasn't with the shark-man, either. Akatsuki always traveled in pairs. What happened to Kisame?_

'_There's something I'm missing here.'_

----------------

"I was confused at first, baa-chan. I mean, even I realized that had Itachi gone all out and attacked me, I wouldn't have been able to defeat him," Naruto told Tsunade back at the office. Tsunade was leaning her chin on her clasped hands while supporting her weight on the table with her elbows. Her brows were furrowed in thought as she listened to Naruto's story.

"Continue your story, Naruto," she commanded.

"Well, as the others must've reported back to you, I regrouped with the others and we eventually encountered another Akatsuki member not long afterwards."

"Tobi," stated Tsunade.

"Hai. I don't think you've known this, baa-chan. But Tobi is not a normal Akatsuki member. Tobi isn't even his real identity. Nor did the body belong to him."

"What do you mean?" Tsunade was bewildered with Naruto's statement. She was suddenly reminded of Orochimaru with the mention of Tobi's body.

"His real name is Uchiha Madara, or to be exact, Madara inside Uchiha Obito's body—the real leader/employer of the Akatsuki organization," Naruto said with all seriousness.

"Nani!?" exclaimed Tsunade with wide eyes. She never expected that answer of all things. "Naruto, you realize that Uchiha Madara was alive during the time of the Konoha Founders right? There's no possible way for him to still be alive now. He was alive during my grandfather's and granduncle's time. In fact, the Valley of the End—"

"I know, baa-chan," cut Naruto with a sad smile. "I know that the valley where I fought with Sasuke almost six years ago was the same place where the Shodaime Hokage and Uchiha Madara had their dispute—that it was also the exact same location where Madara betrayed your grandfather and Konoha. I actually paid attention to my history lessons at the academy, you know. It's ironic, isn't it? They say that history repeats itself. There's not a truer statement than that."

Tsunade's eyes softened in a sad smile at Naruto's statement while Yuuri, Ken and the still henged Itachi looked at Naruto worriedly. Yuuri put his hand on Naruto's shoulder in a gesture of comfort.

"Naru—"

"I'm fine, Yuuri. Don't worry about it."

Tsunade didn't miss the caring and friendly gesture the MaOu gave Naruto. Nor did she miss the worried expressions on the others' faces.

She realized that the four of them had a closer relationship than she thought. She didn't know whether to be relieved that Naruto found such close friends and partners or to be worried that those same close friends weren't human, and that two of them were much stronger than the Kyuubi.

"Anyway…continuing on… I didn't mention this to you before, since it didn't make much sense when I first heard it, but during the first mission where we encountered Sasuke and Orochimaru before, Sasuke—with his sharingan—somehow managed to enter my mindscape where Kyuubi's seal was located," Naruto continued. "That was the first time Kyuubi mentioned Uchiha Madara. He said, and I quote: _'…those eyes… and a chakra more sinister than my own. Just like Uchiha Madara.' _I learned later on that not only was Madara the first Uchiha, he was also in fact, the first person who managed to activate the Mangekyou Sharingan." Tsunade's eyes became even wider at that statement. Oh she understood the underlying statement that Naruto was trying to tell her.

"Haii, baa-chan. Madara awakened the Mangekyou after killing the Shodaime, his closest friend." Unnoticed by the others, by the corner of the office, Itachi stiffened imperceptibly.

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**A/N:** Hmm... short, I know. But I don't want to hurry this up. I want to build the suspense, muahahaha! Hope you guys enjoyed that!


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